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CHRISTIANITY: 

ITS 

PERFECT ADAPTATION 

TO THE 

MENTAL, MORAL, AND SPIRITUAL NATURE 
OF MAN. 

ATHANASE, COQUEREL, 

ONE OF THE PASTORS OF THE PROTESTANT CHURCH OF FRANCE, 
AND CHEVALIER OF THE LEGION OF HONOUR. 

Crattsflatett 

BY 

THE REV. D. DAVISON, M.A. 

WITH A PREFACE, 

WRITTEN EXPRESSLY FOR THE ENGLISH EDITION, 

BY THE AUTHOR. 




LONDON: 
LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN, AND LONGMANS, 

PATERNOSTER-ROW. 

1847. 
V 






London : 

Spottiswoode and Shaw,' 

New-street-Square. 



TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. 



The Translator and Editor presents the following work 
to the English public as one of the signs of the times. 
In most Protestant countries, and in England especially, 
Protestantism, from political circumstances at first 
assumed, and from political circumstances has continued 
to preserve, a stationary dogmatical form. The prin- 
ciples of the Reformation were soon forsaken ; and " the 
sufficiency of the Scriptures, and the right of private 
judgment," having led the early reformers to adopt cer- 
tain definite formularies of faith, these were sanctioned 
by law, stereotyped in articles, hedged round by political 
privileges, favoured by influence, and supported by 
endowments ; and consequently they have remained 
unchanged till the present hour. The knowledge of 
the age, and the results of inquiry, have in many 
cases gone beyond the conclusions of the early re- 
formers ; many of the political barriers have already 
been removed, and there is an obviously growing ten- 
dency in the public mind, within and without the 
Church, to resume the true principles of Protestantism, 
and freely to inquire into the "mind of the spirit." 
The effects of the fermentation in the public mind on 
this subject are sufficiently obvious ; and the very 
violence of the antagonism to free inquiry is the most 



IV TRANSLATOR S PREFACE. 






distinct evidence both of the weakness of its opponents 
and of the apprehended dangers of the result. How long 
it may be till the w fields are ripe for the harvest," it is 
impossible to tell ; how long it may be before Christi- 
anity shall be able to disembarrass itself of those forms, 
authority, dogmas, and worldly power by which its free 
expansion and development are still repressed, we can- 
not foresee ; but that the process has been, and is 
going on, no one can doubt. The tendency to fall back 
upon authority exhibited by many sincere churchmen is 
an evidence of the untenableness of their present position 
on the supposition of the full right of free inquiry and 
private judgment ; and it is obvious, notwithstanding 
the immense secular advantages which Churches " esta- 
blished by law " every where possess, that Christendom 
is approaching a period when the professors of Chris- 
tianity will be still more distinctly divided into two 
parties — the party absolutely relying upon, and the 
party absolutely rejecting authority ; and the issue of 
the contest, in an age of progressively increasing learn- 
ing, freedom, and civilisation, admits of no question. In 
other Protestant countries Christianity has had a freer 
development ; it has been more freely subjected to the 
tests of history, criticism, and experience; and while 
its true claims have been more clearly brought forward, 
and built upon a surer foundation, it has been freed 
from many of the pretensions with which ignorance, 
superstition, and interest have clothed it, and which 
have formed the main impediments to its prevalence and 
triumph. Prevail and triumph it will, in due season ; 
but much yet remains to be done to clear the way for 
the Gospel, that it may have free course and be glorified. 






TRANSLATORS PREFACE. V 

Even since the Reformation it has been often deemed 
impossible to effect a complete reconciliation between 
the claims of Revelation and Science — to assign au- 
thority and reason their due limits; and yet it has 
been always felt by enlightened men of all parties that 
Christianity must be able to stand the ordeal of every 
human test before it can find universal acceptance as 
the word of God, and become the religion of men of 
every kindred, and nation, and tongue. 

Much has been done to effect this end in Germany, 
Switzerland, France, America, and England, of which, 
perhaps, one of the most splendid proofs is the recent 
work of Professor Andrews Norton on " The Evidences 
of the Genuineness of the Gospels," — a work based upon 
solid learning and deep research, distinguished by calm- 
ness and impartiality of judgment, and a full and ela- 
borate consideration and refutation of the objections 
urged against Christianity on historical and critical 
grounds. 

The work here offered to the public is intended to 
meet, and does meet, another source of objection, 
and aims at reconciling Christianity with metaphysical 
science, and at presenting in one view the philosophy 
of religion, and the religion of philosophy. None can 
doubt the greatness of the aim ; and should there be 
any who may feel apprehensive of the danger of the 
attempt, or remain unpersuaded of the complete success 
of its execution, all will recognise a very important 
labour in a most important field of investigation and 
research. The high claims of the author as a diligent 
student, a learned theologian, and as one of the most 
eloquent and best known pulpit orators of the present 

A 3 



VI TRANSLATOR S PREFACE. 

age, render it as useless, as it would be obtrusive, to 
dwell on his merits. 

The following Preface has been drawn up by the 
Author especially for the English Edition. It can- 
not fail to be read with great interest by persons of 
all religious parties in this country. It will serve 
to give information to many, — to remove the preju- 
dices of some, — and to show the unfounded nature 
of many of the objections and calumnies which have 
been interestedly or ignorantly put forth against Pro- 
testantism and its pastors in the Church of France. 
May whatever tends to truth and knowledge find ac- 
ceptance ; may faith be increased ; hope strengthened ; 
and charity, the highest attainment of human excel- 
lence, universally prevail ! 

The Translator has only to add, that he has endea- 
voured to present the Author's work as faithfully, both 
in the letter and spirit, as lay within his power. It 
requires careful reading ; and, if properly studied, the 
text should be first read through without the notes, 
which may be better examined on a second perusal, 
when the spirit and objects of the text are fully under- 
stood. 



AUTHOR'S PREFACE, 



The Author submits the present volume to the En- 
glish reader, with the confident hope that in England, 
one of the nations of Christendom on which Providence 
has imposed the duty of being a bulwark of evangelical 
faith, some interest will be taken in the first complete 
system of Protestant dogmatics published in France by 
a French Protestant minister, by a pastor of the 
French established church, since the revocation of the 
edict of Nantz. 

The English reader will at once perceive that the 
work is widely different from what it would have been, 
if written by a divine of the old Protestant Church 
of France, politically demolished by the lamentable and 
tyrannical revocation of the edict of Nantz, and not by 
a clergyman of the present reformed national church 
of France, established by the law of the eighth of 
Germinal, in the Xth year of the Republic (8th of 
April, 1802). 

For the author of the volume, as a Christian and as a 
minister of the "Word of God, and even for every disciple 
of the Gospel, these statements, these opening remarks, 
when considered in respect to the subject of the treatise, 
have weight enough to call for a full and sincere explan- 
ation. The bond of Christian union between English 

A 4 



Ylll AUTHORS PREFACE. 

and French Protestantism is concerned in these ques- 
tions ; and before the paramount importance of this view, 
the poor vanity of authorship dwindles into nothing, 
and vanishes away to such a degree, that the Author 
has, though not without some effort, found courage, 
for the first time in his life, to address the English 
public in the English language. 

This boldness in its turn requires some justification, 
and obliges the Author to perform the delicate task of 
speaking of himself, at least in a few hasty lines. One 
advantage, however, offers consolation for this necessary 
rashness ; and in the hope of meeting with the liberal 
indulgence which a Frenchman is always in need of 
when writing the English language, he will try at once 
to excuse this act of imprudence, and (what he far more 
considers as a duty) to justify his conscientious and re- 
ligious motives in writing and publishing the present 
volume. 

Though a Frenchman by birth, though my whole life 
has been spent on the Continent, I was brought up half 
an Englishman, the nephew and adopted son of one of 
the most remarkable female writers of modern times, 
who justly bears the title of English Historian of the 
French Revofation, whose works have been translated 
into all modern languages, and are even now often had 
recourse to by many authors of the present day. Her 
poems have been translated by the celebrated Chevalier 
de Bouflers ; she herself translated the Travels of the 
celebrated Humboldt, and remained to the last the friend 
of Clarkson and Wilberforce, of Southey, Wordsworth, 
and Rogers, of Mrs. Barbauld and Mrs. Opie, — Helen 
Maria Williams. This eminent woman, whose pen was 



AUTHOR S PREFACE. IX 

constantly devoted to the defence of liberty, and who was 
very near losing her life in the cause, when imprisoned 
during the reign of Terror in the palace of the Luxem- 
bourg, with several deputies of the illustrious party of the 
Gironde, filled a mother's vacant place for my brother * and 
myself, and brought us up. The consequence was, that 
we enjoyed the singular advantage of speaking two 
maternal languages ; and one of the earliest lessons we 
were taught was the long and ancient ties of our family 
with England and Scotland. Our grandfather, Mr. 
Ch. Williams, of Aberconway, Caernarvon, Wales, held 
a high station in the War-office ; he was descended from 
a very old Welsh family ; one of his ancestors having 
been John Williams of Aberconway, Archbishop of 
York, who succeeded Bacon as Keeper of the Seals. 
To one of the branches of the family belonged the 
celebrated dissenting divine, Daniel Williams, who 
married, in 1701, the daughter of a French refugee, 
and left to his trustees, for public use, the institution 
called Williams's Library. Our grandmother was a 
Hay of Naugthon, a direct descendant of one of the 
ardent supporters of religious liberty in Scotland, who 
took the field for the Covenant in 1643 ; and I still pre- 
serve with due care his silken banner, blue and white, 
honourably shattered, and bearing the motto, Tu Cly~ 
pens ! Covenant for Religion, Crown, and Countrey. Our 
venerable grandmother, to the great astonishment of the 

* Mr. Charles Coquerel: known by several publications, and parti- 
cularly by his History of the Church of the Desert (2 vols. 8vo.), in- 
cluding the period between the death of Louis XIV. and the French 
Revolution, written from the original manuscripts of Antoine Court 
and Paul Rabaut, the two most celebrated ministers at that time in the 
south of France. 

a 5 



AUTHOR S PREFACE. 



most remarkable men of the times of the Republic and 
of the Empire, completely realised in Paris the type of 
the true Protestant English gentlewoman; and how often 
did she find a lingering pleasure in relating to our infant 
attention the story told by all the Scotch historians, of 
a peasant of the name of Hay, who, in 980, armed with 
a yoke and seconded by his two sons, stopped the Danes 
in a narrow pass till the Scotch were able to rally, and 
received, as a reward, an escutcheon bearing three yokes 
and the motto, Servajugum, the arms of Erroll! It will 
be readily believed that our family occupied a conspi- 
cuous place in the Protestant Church of Paris, and grew 
intimate with its three ministers, Rabaut, Monod, and 
Marron, of which last I now fill the place. This intimacy, 
their encouragements, and, more than all, the constant 
example of domestic piety set at home, led me, when 
yet very young, to the determination of waving the 
wide and brilliant prospect of various advancement 
which our family connexions opened to us during the 
Imperial government, and of entering the Church ; a de- 
termination for which ever since I have earnestly blesse( 
the Almighty, even before affluence and influence disap- 
peared in the tremendous change on the fall of the em- 
pire. I passed through the regular course of studies ii 
the newly opened Protestant Academy of Montauban, 
and soon after leaving it, received a temporary call as 
minister of the French Church in Amsterdam. Thither 
I went for a few weeks, and remained twelve years. 

The Protestantism of Holland is not generally valued, 
according to its real worth, in the balance of Protestant 
Europe. No church, I feel bound to declare, has a 
better right to the respect and admiration of the Pro- 



AUTHOR S PREFACE. XL 

testant community at large, than the Church of Holland, 
from the soundness of its evangelical and liberal principles, 
its true piety and Christian life, its deep studies, and the 
religious peace prevailing throughout its borders. No 
system of dissent has of late invaded it ; such harmony 
reigns amongst the clergy of the various parishes that 
the principle of separatism cannot gain a standing- 
ground ; the dangerous German metaphysical and criti- 
cal infidelity has not followed the current of the Rhine 
and flowed down into the midst of its schools ; the still 
more dangerous infidelity of France, so light in its 
affected science,. has not crossed the frontier; it stopped 
on this side of Belgium, and drew back before it could 
pass the wide heaths of Holland ; the American theory 
of a complete separation of Church and State, and of 
splitting the Church into almost as many congregations 
as families, is known only by name. All that is praise- 
worthy, all that is enlightened, all that is really useful 
and evangelical in the tenets, and examples, and institu- 
tions of olden times, is carefully preserved, and what is 
particularly kept up with the most assiduous care, is the 
high level of theological and biblical science. In that 
country, a clergyman is naturally drawn on to be a 
man of distinction and of eloquence, if he can ; but a 
man of extensive learning he must be. 

I very soon discovered that a student from the Pro- 
testant Academy of Montauban could not be compared 
with the candidates of the Universities of Leyden 
and of Utrecht ; a difference easily accounted for by 
the simple fact, that the Protestant Academy of 
Montauban was opened in 1810; and before I close 
these pages I shall refer to this point of comparison at 



Xll AUTHORS PREFACE. 

greater length. There was but one thing to be done ; 
I sat down to work, and I believe I may say, that I 
have worked diligently ever since; I avoided the stum- 
bling-block of extempore preaching, the surest method, 
particularly when young, of forming the habit of preaching 
words, instead of ideas ; I wrote sermons by hundreds, 
always committing them to memory for the pulpit ; and 
according to the rule, that in order to learn a foreign 
tongue the best way is to write out its grammar and 
syntax, I composed and published, among many other 
volumes, a considerable work, entitled Sacred Bio- 
graphy, which forms, I may say, almost an encyclopedia 
of Biblical History, Archaeology, and Criticism, and con- 
tains a compendium of what is truly good and truly 
Christian in Dutch, German, and old French theology* 
All this enabled me to keep my situation in Amsterdam, 
when at last the celebrated Cuvier, who, as councillor 
of state and of the university, was then at the head of 
the administration of Protestant affairs in France, 
resolved on my return to my native country, either as 
professor at Montauban, or pastor in Paris, and he had 
me named in 1830 to fill the place in my native city, 
soon left vacant by the decease of my venerable friend 
Mons. Marron. For seventeen years past, by constant 
preaching before numerous congregations, by attentively 
listening to the re-echoing of this long course of sermons, 
by various volumes sent to the press, and particularly 
by a new and revised edition of the Biographie Sacree, 
which is now on the desk of most of the ministers in 
France ; by taking an active part in the committees of 
most of our religious societies, and by contributing 
largely to several of our religious periodicals; by a 



AUTHOR S PREFACE. Xlll 

constant and intimate intercourse with the Protestant 
congregations of Paris (which certainly do not in- 
clude less than 30,000 individuals), and by a constant 
correspondence with a great number of my fellow- 
ministers in the Departments, I believe I do not presume 
too much in saying that I have attained a thorough 
knowledge of the situation, the wants, and the spirit of 
the Protestantism of France. This has led me to cherish 
an ardent desire that I might not be removed, nor my 
labours be closed, till the completion of the work now 
offered to the English public. 

The work assumes to be a complete view of Christi- 
anity, under the twofold aspect of reason and faith, of 
human knowledge and Divine revelation ; the volume 
unfolds, if the labour answers the aim, a complete system 
of philosophy and of religion, — the religion of the 
Gospel, such as I consider and believe it to be. 

It is the labour of my whole life, the summary of the 
long studies of thirty years spent in ministerial duties. 

The purpose of this treatise would not have been 
answered if the book, a work of conscience, was not a 
work of perfect sincerity ; it is even so much so that 
the system of religion unfolded in these pages is com- 
plete; all the deep and awful questions put to the 
human intellect by the Christian faith are answered ; 
I have said all that I believe ; I have kept nothing in 
reserve, no sentiment of my mind, no secret of my 
understanding, no conviction of my creed. I have 
spoken with that tranquil security which faith inspires ; 
and if I have always found myself at ease with respect 
to the risk of error, it is simply because I have felt 
myself supported by the calmness of sincerity ; in the 



XIV AUTHOR S PREFACE. 

language of Montaigne, I always could say to myself, 
" Ma conscience ne falsifie pas un iota ; mon inscience 
je ne seay." 

Every thing is consistent in the book ; the thoughts 
are bound up together; they all serve in their turn 
as premises and conclusions ; it belongs to the very 
essence of religious truths to be melted down into a 
condensed alloy, to be orderly disposed in a connected 
system. To detach a few fragments, to weigh some 
separate propositions, to discuss not the groundwork 
and the whole, but some scattered theories of the essay 
after breaking the links of the chain, would be to dis- 
pose of the volume without justice to the author, or 
without fruit to the reader. 

No modern work of the kind has appeared in the 
religious literature of France. The existing Protestant 
dogmatic treatises are of older date : they were written 
under the dominion of the exclusive confession of faith, 
drawn up by our fathers (and to this part of the subject I 
shall return), under the stifling pressure of an official theo- 
logy, alone permitted to prevail, tacitly at least, amongst 
our churches, and which reduced every tongue to silence. 
When it did not lead to evasions of the truth, truth could 
only be diffused by mere mutterings or by ambiguous 
teachings ; progress was impossible, unless prudence was 
carried to the extreme limits of the most timid reserve. 
The tree of Divine knowledge was pruned of its parasite 
branches one by one, and every care was taken to deafen 
the noise of their fall ; truth was cut short in its growth, 
and not allowed to offer her balmy fruits to every hand. 
But since political freedom in France has taken its 
station on the thresholds of our homes and our churches, 



AUTHOR S PREFACE. XV 

followed by religions freedom, without perhaps any 
original or intentional recognition of this fellowship 
(for the legislators of 1802 thought merely of rendering 
our worship free, and not of our creed, our theology, 
which did not for a moment fix their attention) ; since 
intolerance has with us run its course and lost its suit ; 
and since faith amongst our congregations admits that 
true religion cannot suffer any real injury from the full 
liberty of the desk and the pulpit, Protestantism, in 
France, has begun its task by what was most needed, 
and has given far more work to the shepherds of its 
flocks than to the divines of its schools. 

Half a century and more had already elapsed, when I 
became deeply and conscientiously struck with the idea, 
that it had become one of the most pressing and impor- 
tant religious interests of the times to put the present 
generation in possession of a complete exposition of the 
Christian faith, expounded according to the spirit of the 
age, written in its own style and argued with its own 
logic; of a system of modern orthodoxy, borrowing 
from the various orthodoxy of the past nothing of its 
forms of language, nothing of its dialectic warfare, nothing 
of its polemical abuse, or of its inconsistent intolerance, 
but only its sincerity, its religious zeal, its deep venera- 
tion for the inspired Word of God, the glorious text of 
our Churches. . . . This is the task which, according 
to the measure of the abilities that God has given, I 
have laboured to perform. 

These views could in no respect be realised if the 
Bible, so little known to *the public at large in this 
country, were made the constant, the only groundwork of 
the fabric. The insertion, however, of the texts of Scrip- 



XVI AUTHORS PREFACE. 

ture and the necessary commentaries in the treatise itself, 
was not to be thought of; two serious disadvantages 
would have attended this process; — either the train of 
thought would have been broken and disfigured at every 
line by all this inlaid work, or the quotations from the 
sacred writings would have been reduced to a few scanty 
and short references, unconnected and unexplained. 
Hence I soon came to the resolution, that the texts from 
the Scriptures, with appropriate comments, should be 
selected without fear of their increasing number, and 
enlarged upon at pleasure. Each of the six books of 
the treatise is followed by an Appendix containing a 
very large selection of passages from the Bible, given 
without explanation when the sense is clear ; explained 
more or less at length, paraphrased, or compared with 
the parallel passages when it was necessary to explain 
them ; and translated anew where the common version 
is inaccurate. I believe I do not transgress the bounds 
of humility when I say that I have gone through this 
part of my task with the utmost care ; every one of 
these passages of the sacred books has been thoroughly 
studied ; all are given, not in the apparent sense, nor 
in the sense that first offers when the phrase is taken 
apart, disjoined from the preceding and following ideas, 
and, according to our modern translations, too often 
dark in the meaning, or false, or partial — but in the 
real sense, as given by the spirit of the ancient languages, 
by the train of thought, by the genius of the times, and 
by the deep individuality of the inspired authors. I 
have consulted and compared the most esteemed com- 
mentators of Protestant nations, and sometimes those of 
the Church of Rome ; and men of learning will readily 



AUTHOR S PREFACE. XV11 

discover the various sources of theological science to 
which I have applied. All the revised texts and the 
short critical dissertations often annexed, are quoted 
simply to show the constant and humble harmony of 
the essay and of Revelation; sometimes the passages 
are positive proofs that the Bible reveals with Divine 
authority the same truths which philosophy teaches in 
its lower sphere ; sometimes, that the genuine spirit of 
evangelical faith prevails through the whole of this 
system of philosophy and of religion ; sometimes, again, 
the biblical quotations are similar allusions, deductions, 
or images, which naturally occurred in the course of 
this long examination ; and if any success has attended 
this part of my labours, these extracts from the sacred 
volume will serve to heighten the relish of the number- 
less beautiful portions of the Bible, to enforce the 
sublime energy of its lessons, and to enhance the value 
of its inexhaustible treasures. 

At first, I had proposed to myself to introduce 
another species of notes, and to give the work a more 
erudite form. The texts from the Scriptures would 
have been inserted, when necessary, in the original 
tongues ; the critical views as to the same discussed in 
a more grammatical and philological method ; the opi- 
nions of the divines and the commentators produced at 
length ; and I intended closing the volume with consi- 
derable extracts from the Fathers, from ecclesiastical 
authors and historians, carefully selected, to clear away 
the difficulties and strengthen the assertions of the trea- 
tise. I had already made great progress in this method, 
and the materials were daily increasing : but the day of 
erudite works on religion has not yet arisen in France ; 



XV111 AUTHOR S PREFACE. 

we accept of a serious essay; a volume of classical 
learning is read only by the learned ; and for a length of 
time it will be still necessary in France, when writing 
on religion, to write for all readers. 

This general idea of the performance may enable, it 
is hoped, every friend of the Gospel in England to 
judge of its importance. It is evident in my mind, as 
a matter of fact and of experience, that, in France, 
amongst the two religious denominations of French 
Protestantism — the so-called Calvinist and Lutheran 
Churches, an immense majority has been impatiently 
waiting for a work of this kind ; and that beyond the 
bounds of the reformed communities, numberless are 
the minds of inconsistent unbelievers, uneasy and unde- 
cided as to religious matters, and labouring under the 
vague desire of meeting with Christian truth offered 
under this form. In France, the minds of men are 
weary of floating to and fro between a dogmatism nearly 
come to its end and a dogmatism yet unborn among us ; 
weary of uncertainty and of the bitter and intolerant 
conditions of the past, whose place, though nearly vacant, 
has not been yet taken by any new and more welcome 
guest, you constantly meet with fatigued wanderers 
looking out where to fix, where to halt. In the dark or 
in the dawn, the present generation is searching how to 
believe, without discord and anathemas ; how to believe 
in the bond of love ; how to unite once for all reason and 
faith, and still more zeal and charity. On all sides you 
hear discontent and disgust expressed respecting all 
those imperfect systems now dried up and empty, which 
satisfy neither the intellect, the conscience, nor the 
religious instinct of man ; discontent and disgust with a 






author's preface. xix 

system where the form is given for the power, words 
for sense, regulations for order, or anarchy for freedom, 
the faltering of remembrances for professions of faith, 
and paces to and fro on the way for progress onwards ; 
discontent and disgust with all those sorts of objective 
persuasions, founded only on the outside of truth and the 
appearances of religion; every where you meet with 
men of all classes ardently seeking, out of doors and in 
private, after a subjective creed, that is to say, drawn 
out of man considered in himself as a complete being, 
as a subject existing apart from every other being in 
his inviolable individuality ; a creed drawn out of the 
realities of life, the realities of Revelation, from the very 
depths of creation, from our nature, from God's nature, 
from the essence and spirit of Christianity. This 
species of Christian faith is the light and the glory, the 
strength and the peace of many evangelical communi- 
ties, to whom Providence has spared the long sufferings 
with which the reformed Church of France has been 
visited — sufferings endured with heroic and truly Chris- 
tian virtue, but which left no time for theological study. 
It is this faith which I have ventured to unfold in the fol- 
lowing pages, and consequently the work is written for 
all classes of readers ; the only art necessary to reap some 
benefit from the perusal is that of self-examination. 
This art it professes to teach, and its object is to make 
the student think and reflect, and, by thought, by medi- 
tation, to raise him to faith; not by human thought 
left to itself, but by human thought resting on the 
Bible as a positive and direct revelation of the Spirit 
of God to the spirit of man. 

It is hardly necessary to add that the work has 



XX AUTHORS PREFACE. 

nothing throughout of a sectarian character ; indeed, it 
assumes to be far above the level of all sects. 

Enough has now been said to make the return 
towards the starting-point smooth, and to raise in full 
force the natural question : — If this treatise on Christi- 
anity is the production of a divine, of a pastor, of the 
National Established Church of France, is it in accord- 
ance with the accredited tenets of that Church ? The 
question put in these terms leads to another: — What are, 
and where are to be found the accredited tenets of the 
Church of France ? The answer is easy, and I rejoice 
in the opportunity of placing it before the English 
public. 

Every one knows where to look for the accredited 
tenets of our Church in past times ; they are to be found 
in the Forty Articles of Faith drawn up at the National 
Synod of Paris, in the year 1559, in the reign of Henry 
II. ; sanctioned again by the National Synod of la 
Rochelle, in the year 1571, in the reign of Charles IX., 
and publicly agreed to, for the last time, at the meeting 
of the last authorised National Synod, that of Loudun, 
in the year 1660, in the reign of Louis XI Y. But, in 
our days, the tenets of the reformed Church of France 
can only be found, and are written only in the minds of 
its ministers — of its elders — of its members. 

All this is matter of fact, and my intention is far 
from discussing at any length, in these introductory 
pages, the question of the comparative advantages or 
perils of a definite system of theology, or of a chain of 
dogmatic articles, under which the Church bends. My 
object is to explain how a regular minister of 
reformed Church of France has a full right 






the 
to 



AUTHOR S PREFACE. XXI 

compose and publish a treatise of Christian faith at 
variance with the Forty Articles of our old synods, 
without being bound in honour to send in his demission ; 
nor, on the other hand, do I feel the slightest uneasiness 
at declaring my opposition to any other standard of 
faith but the Word of God ; this was one of my earliest 
convictions, and the only cause of my not entering the 
service of the Church of England. Many years ago, in 
a difficult moment of my life, I received a call to 
become minister of a newly erected chapel in the 
island of Jersey ; the trustees crossed the water, heard 
me preach in Paris, and made an honourable offer, 
which I accepted ; but it was necessary to sign the 
Thirty-nine Articles, very similar indeed to the Forty 
of our synods. The trustees went over to England, 
applied to the bishop to dispense with the subscription ; 
of course, it was more than the prelate could grant, and 
I remained a French clergyman. 

The simple fact of our present situation is this : — 
Towards the close of the French revolution, under the 
consular government, when Christian worship was re- 
sumed in France, Protestant worship was included in 
this new-born freedom ; a law was passed known under 
the name of the Law of Germinal (the month of its date), 
conferring civil liberty upon the Protestant communities 
and regulating their organisation. This law is silent 
as to the obligation of signing the articles in order to 
enter the ministry; and, what is still more to the purpose, 
this law has preserved and remedied several of our old 
institutions, but has not preserved the national synod, 
the supreme council of the Church, the only body which 
had a right to draw up articles of faith for the whole 



XX11 

community, and to urge subcription to a creed as the 
previous condition of receiving orders. The conse- 
quence is, that in the positive legal and irremediable 
absence of all ecclesiastical authority endowed with this 
power, not one single minister, since the year 1802 (and, 
in fact, long before), has been, or could be called 
upon to sign the former creeds, which have not been 
legally revised (as was usual in every national synod) 
since the year 1660. The final result comes to this — 
that the Law of Germinal has made of the reformed 
Church of France an assemblage of Independent Presby- 
terian congregations, each governed by its own consistory ; 
still we form the National Protestant Establishment ; 
our civil rights are sanctioned by the charter and the 
laws of the realm ; an annual endowment is voted by 
the legislature ; we are irremoveable from our situations ; 
the pastors are freely elected by the several consistories, 
who inquire, as they see fit, into the doctrines of the can- 
didates for a vacant place, and the investiture of our 
elections is confirmed by royal ordinances under the 
signature of a responsible minister, the Keeper of the 
Seals. 

To this Law of Germinal all the pastors of France 
have taken the oath. 

The force of circumstances, the course of political 
events, has calmly brought us to the very point which 
the Protestantism of Holland, and, later still, the Pro- 
testantism of Prussia, has reached by the wise enact- 
ments of their general assemblies — the preservation 
of the ancient creeds simply as venerable records of the 
science and piety of their fathers, and the enjoyment 
of a full freedom of examination and of faith. 



author's preface. xxiii 

A great deal may be said, and has been said, against 
this Law of Germinal and its various results ; a great 
deal, undoubtedly, is wrong and imperfect in this eccle- 
siastical plan ; the want of a mutual bond, of a more 
intimate and regular connexion between the separate 
congregations, is particularly to be lamented, and the 
fervent prayers, the arduous endeavours, the generous 
exertions of all the true friends of French Protestantism 
are centred in the difficult task of drawing together all 
these distinct forces, and re-uniting the Protestants of 
France, not under a system of fixed dogmatism, nor 
under the yoke of our fathers which the current of the 
age has shattered to pieces and swept away for ever, 
but in the Christian bond of faith in our Lord Jesus 
Christ, of liberty and of peace. 

Prominent as may be the effects of the Law of Ger- 
minal, they are fully explained by the spirit and by 
the extreme difficulties of the moment. In 1802, Pro- 
testants and Protestant ministers were looked out for 
on all sides, to form the congregations and to re-open 
the churches, and it was hardly known where to find 
them. 6000 names were required for the erection of a 
consistorial church; and it is a positive fact, that 
numbers of Catholics, in different places, gave in their 
names, in order that the city might enjoy the benefit of 
the new church. Who was to call these strange signatures 
to account, and who had a right to blot them out ? By 
this circumstance alone one may judge of the singulari- 
ties of the situation. It must never be forgotten that 
the Law of Germinal, with all its faults and omissions, 
was unanimously accepted by the Protestants of France, 
and well it might, as an immense, an inestimable blessing ; 



XXIV AUTHORS PREFACE. 

it must never be forgotten that our civil rights as 
husbands and wives, as fathers and mothers, as sons and 
daughters, do not go further back than 1787, one of 
the last acts of the unfortunate Louis XVI. and 
his admirable minister Malesherbes ; it must never be 
forgotten that when the law was passed, our ancestors, 
for a century and more, had hardly ever met for public 
worship but under the shade of forests, the hanging of 
rocks, or in the gloom of their mountain caves ; it must 
never be forgotten that ten years after the time when 
our persecutor Louis XIY. went to his account, in the 
midst of the profligacy of the Regency, the administra- 
tion of the Duke~of Bourbon found means, for a time, to 
be serious enough to re-open the galleys and dungeons 
for us, and to re-erect the scaffolds ; and, to sum up the 
whole, it must never be forgotten that the last French 
Protestant minister who lost his life to expiate the foul 
crime of having performed divine service for his brethren, 
Francois Rochelle, was publicly brought to the gibbet 
at Toulouse, so late as the year 1762. What if, from 
the height of his scaffold, his eye, before closing in 
death, could have pierced into futurity, and had 
foreseen that, forty years later, no more ! the same 
worship for which he died as a martyr would be placed 
under the protection of the law of the land, and 
offered up in full liberty and peace throughout the 
whole empire ? Who can doubt that his last prayer 
would have been a thanksgiving, and that the prospect 
would have brightened still more his path to heaven ? 

And when we come to balance the blessing and its 
deficiencies, the law and its effects, what do we find ? 
It is true; there is no legal and official standard of 



AUTHOR S PREFACE. XXV 

theology which we are all constrained to believe and to 
expound; and I will tranquilly venture to say, that most 
probably not one of the ministers of the Church would 
sign the old confession as it is, for instance, with the 
article on the eternal damnation of unbaptized children, 
with the article on irrevocable predestination, and, with 
the Athanasian Creed as a sanctioned appendix. If 
there were, which there is not, and which there cannot 
be, any authority legally requiring subscription, I am 
fully convinced that it would be only signed according 
to the well known principles which prevented Paley 
from becoming a bishop. Moreover, it must be under- 
stood, that the forty articles form a whole, which must 
be rejected or accepted as it is. Is it not obvious, that 
if one minister or one consistory assumes the right 
of blotting out or altering one single article, every 
other minister, every other consistory may blot out or 
explain away what seems superfluous or inaccurate ; if 
in one Church, the confession of faith is rent in two, 
some articles considered as fundamental, and others 
as accessory, a sort of division unknown in the old 
synods, another Church may find the vital truths of 
Christianity in other articles, and consider the remainder 
as an appendage of no moment. The fact is, that by 
an especial and visible care of Divine Providence, our 
liberty can neither be questioned nor limited ; and as to 
the benefits of the present state of things, the question 
does not rest solely in the tacit removal of a spiritual 
bondage ; the true question is, if under this modern rule 
the Protestant churches of France have advanced as far 
on the way of progress as can reasonably be expected. 

a 



XXVI AUTHORS PREFACE. 

Here, I ask of the candid reader some allowance 
which in justice it seems impossible to refuse. 

It is hard to require of an individual, or of a body 
of men, to be better than the laws they are to obey, 
than the rules they are to follow; and, certainly, it is 
no matter of wonder, no ground of scandal, if in our 
Church there is no more unity, as to dogmatics, than 
our organisation prescribes ; it seems very natural that 
we should be at variance, if variance is the given situ- 
ation of the law. 

Again, in a Church, in a clerical body, which has 
suffered a violent suspension of liberty, of worship, of 
means of study, and of works of charity, for a hundred 
and seventeen years, from the revocation of the edict of 
Xantz, 1685, to the law of Germinal, 1802 (reckoning 
at the lowest, for persecution had begun long before 
the revocation ; previous to this last act, Louis XIV. 
had already issued fifty-one intolerant and tyrannical 
edicts against the Protestants), it is impossible to expect 
the same progress in every direction, attained during 
this long interval of time, as in communities which have 
had no such void in their history, no such disasters to 
encounter, no such ruins to repair, as in Holland, Switz- 
erland, Germany, and England. 

This being granted, how have we in France employed 
this respite of half a century, which Divine Providence 
has granted us ? How have we made use of this full 
liberty of the altar and the pulpit, a liberty which we 
did not conquer by degrees, so as to get slowly accus- 
tomed to it, but which was sent us almost on a sudden, 
in a moment, as a shower of the late season ? How have 
our inexperienced hands set about rebuilding our second 



AUTHOR S PREFACE. XXV11 

temple, without a Zerubbabel to command, a Joshua to 
pray, or an Ezra to teach ? . . . I could say a great deal, 
but I must limit these pages and simply state a few 
facts : 

As to theological liberty, we are now upwards of 
500 ministers in the Reformed Church of France, and 
the different shades of orthodoxy are certainly as va- 
rious among us as with our brethren of the Lutheran 
communion ; nevertheless I am confident, that not one 
of us can be justly called a Rationalist in its genuine 
German sense ; there is not one of us who does not 
consider the Scriptures as a positive revelation ; not 
one of us who does not consider the sacraments with a 
deep religious awe; not one of us, from whose pulpit 
do not continually descend into the minds of the con- 
gregation the doctrines, that God is the father of all; 
— Jesus Christ the only Redeemer; — man, the prodigal 
son, incapable by his own merits of working out his 
way home to his Creator : judgment an inevitable ac- 
count, and immortality our real existence. Is this an 
abuse of theological independence ; and is not this 
unity enough for all, save for those among us, who, 
alas ! will not allow room, in the Church of the Lord, 
for any other theology but their own ? 

As to zeal and proselytism, to speak only of what 
I daily witness; a little before the day-break of our 
liberties, the whole Protestant congregation of Paris 
could assemble in a hall of the Dutch embassy, or a 
parlour of the Rue d'Thionville ; this is only fifty years 
ago ; the ministers of the Church of Paris, by the con- 
stancy of their professional labours, are now in posses- 

a 2 



XXV111 AUTHORS PREFACE. 

sion of three churches in the metropolis*, where we 
preach alternately; the Oratoire, the largest of the 
three, is the largest Protestant church in France, and 
holds upwards of 2000 hearers ; the congregations are 
sometimes, I might say often, overflowing, to such a 
degree that people return home for want of room ; on the 
Christmas and Easter solemnities, we reckon the com- 
municants, both men and women, by hundreds; the 
number of confirmations is yearly increasing ; a number 
of Roman Catholics constantly attend, the sacrament is 
never given but Catholics, converted to our faith, are 
admitted ; nothing can be more impressive, more strik- 
ing, than the deep silence, the order, the solemnity of 
our public offices ; and the private duties imposed on our 
clergy by this regular increase of the Church is such, that 
we bend under the task and wonder where we find time 
to get through it ; all this in the midst of two im- 
mense events most unfavourable to the progress of 
religion, and particularly of ours — the Emperor's tre- 
mendous wars for twelve years, and the Restoration 
during fifteen ; all this in less than half a century. . . ! 
Is this losing our time ; is this shamefully stopping on 
the way, and turning to nought the mercies of the Lord, 
and the treasures of Divine grace ? 

The same progress, more or less, may be remarked 
throughout the whole country. 

I have now reached the most arduous part of my 
task ; I see no means of getting through it, but Christian 
simplicity and openness of heart, and I only pray to be 

* The Oratoire, near the Louvre, Rue St. Honore, 157; St. Mary's, 
Rue St. Antoine, 216; and Pentemont, Rue de Grenelle, 108, in the 
Faubourg St. Germain. 






AUTHORS PREFACE. XXIX 

read with the sentiments with which I write. The re- 
ligious intercourse between France and England began 
in the year 1815, after the peace, — went on rather lan- 
guidly during the Restoration, impeded as it was by the 
spirit and powers of the times, and rose to its full force 
only with the revolution of July. Then the portals of 
our Sion were thrown wide open ; clergymen of various 
denominations, members of various committees, repre- 
sentatives of divers religious opinions, paid numerous 
visits to France ; offers and proposals of different kinds 
were made ; experiments of all sorts were tried ; societies 
were framed. These advances were received with a 
deep sense of gratitude ; the most excellent intentions 
were prominent in all these efforts, and one point only 
was lost sight of, the preliminary point of closely exam- 
ining whether all these exertions of zeal, of benevolence, 
of charity, were in accordance with the character of the 
nation which was to be benefited by them ; and with the 
spirit, with the situation, with the real wants of French 
Protestantism, which was to be the instrument of these 
generous services rendered to the cause of religion. 

No one can be a more sanguine admirer of English 
liberality than I am ; no human want, either spiritual or 
temporal, is out of its reach, and I shed some of my 
earliest tears, when told of the guns fired off the coast 
of Ley den against an English ship bringing alms, in 
the worst times of the imperial wars, to the desolate 
town half destroyed by the explosion of a powder-boat. 
It is an unparalleled page in the history of Christianity, 
that one single Christian nation spends in the cause of 
religion, and for the diffusion of the word of God, what 
England spends annually. To this unbounded gene- 

a 3 



XXX AUTHOR S PREFACE. 

rosity, the Protestant faith is indebted for a glorious 
proof of its power ; insomuch, that while its professors 
are far less numerous still, than the Roman Catholics, 
there is no comparison between the sums dropt at the 
feet of the pretended successor of St. Peter, and the 
voluntary tithes paid down as due to the treasury of the 
pure Gospel of Christ. But it must be confessed that 
the money is sometimes lavished without a sufficient 
previous study of the best means of employing it ; and I 
feel it to be a duty to say, that this has been too often 
the case in the generous assistance given to religion in 
France. 

The starting point of all these endeavours has con- 
stantly been the idea, that what had been of use to the 
cause of religion in England would be of the same use 
in France. The idea was not, I allow, debated and 
laid down as a positive axiom, but it was tacitly ad- 
mitted as a matter of fact ; it seemed natural, it was 
taken for granted, and not one committee but acted 
accordingly. 

The very reverse is the truth, and the illusion is far 
from being dispelled, because, if very few Frenchmen 
are able to judge of England, few Englishmen are 
thoroughly acquainted with the peculiarities of the 
French character, with French society, manners, and 
opinions, with the Protestantism of France, a scanty 
minority lost sight of in the midst of an immense popu- 
lation, Catholic in appearance. 

The very reverse I am confident is the truth, for this 
simple reason, that though the channel is but a few 
leagues in breadth, nothing in the world is more widely 
different, in every respect, than England and France^ 



AUTHORS PREFACE. XXXI 

London and Paris, the Established Church, with the 
dissenting body around it, and the Protestant churches 
of this country, St. Paul's and the Oratoire, Exeter- 
Hall and in Paris we have no such place. 

I am forced to confess the extreme difficulty under 
which I labour to allege satisfactory proofs of these pre- 
mises : the proofs could only result from a complete and 
careful comparison of the two nations, and this would 
be endless. Let me be permitted to introduce two 
grounds of comparison only. 

What religious task, considered at a distance, can seem 
more similar on the two sides of the channel than the 
circulation of the Scriptures ? The Bible is always, and 
every where, the Bible ; and at first sight it appears evi- 
dent, that selling at reduced prices or bestowing the 
sacred volume as a gift, cannot be done in two different 
ways and according to different rules. But let us consider 
the case more closely. In England, a Protestant and 
religious country, the man who receives a Bible, or is in- 
duced to purchase one for a trifle, may be a profligate 
character, an infidel, a man without any pious habits, 
any Christian knowledge ; but there are some things 
at least he is perfectly aware of: he knows that this 
same book is every Sunday opened and read in all 
the churches of the country ; he knows that the most 
respectable and numerous portion of the community at 
large look upon this book as sacred ; he knows that on 
this book oaths are taken as on the word of God, and 
he may, to be sure, forget the gift of the holy volume 
and never seriously turn over a page of it ; but it is a 
hundred to one that this indifference will be his worst 
sin, that he will not try to learn out of the Bible a lesson 

a 4 



XXX11 AUTHOR S PREFACE. 






of lewdness or of impiety ; and, if he reads it, it is pro- 
bable that some remembrances of his education, however 
faint, will enable him to understand enough of what he 
reads. In France, when a man, totally unprepared, re- 
ceives a Bible, he has never in his life seen it opened in a 
place of worship ; it has never been under his sight as a 
school book or a church book ; no early associations are 
recalled to his mind ; no dim recollections of his youth 
remind him of a time when the volume was put into his 
innocent hands ; he knows that it is considered by thou- 
sands, far more learned than he is, as a collection of 
oriental fables thrown together at random ; if ever in 
his life he has heard or read anything about it, it is a 
hundred to one that he has only studied it in Yoltaire, 
whose most abominable and impious volume can be pur- 
chased, too, at a reduced price, for a few farthings ; if he 
opens it, it is but too easy to guess what books and what 
pages he will curiously glance at ; and if, unfortunately, 
companions are at hand, the dismal probability is greatly 
strengthened, that the sacred volume will become a 
stumbling-block of perverseness, scandal, and infidelity ; 
lastly, to hope for the best, if he turns over the book 
seriously, what can he make of it in that state of com- 
plete and absolute ignorance of religion, in which he has 
been left after partaking of the sacrament and receiving 
confirmation at ten or twelve years of age ? Is the 
conclusion to be drawn from all this, that the Bible is not 
to be distributed in France ? God forbid ! The only 
conclusion is, that a Bible Society must be conducted in 
the one country on a plan different from that adopted 
in the other. 

Catholicism, in England, is not so much a Church as 






author's preface. xxxiii 

it is in France ; but what there is of it is, far more than 
with us, a religion, a faith, a sect ; this is to be accounted 
for by the clear and simple fact that Catholics, in 
England, are the minority, and it is a trite observation, 
made good by the history of almost all ages, that the fact 
of being in a minority is often an incentive to zeal and 
steadiness. In France, with the exception of some 
remote provinces where the ignorance of the lower 
classes is still incredible and the influence of the clergy 
still powerful, Catholicism, in general, is a blot ; a 
numberless majority of the nation has glided out of the 
Romish faith, without knowing where to find another ; 
you hardly ever meet any where with a Romanist who, 
when he goes any length in religion, does not openly 
adopt the title of an enlightened Catholic. From the 
pulpit of my own church, with the full approbation of 
hundreds, I have dropt the phrase, that enlightened 
Catholics are anonymous Protestants ; and that we might 
now retaliate on Catholicism the old injurious denomi- 
nation with which our Church was branded, when we 
were called — la Religion pretendue Reformee ; and to day 
Ave may call the Church of Rome in France : la Religion 
pretendue Catholique. . . Is this enough? Shall we 
remain satisfied with this intermediary station which is 
neither the one nor the other, though fast inclining to 
our side ? God forbid again ! But it is obvious, that 
the respective situation of the two Churches being so 
very different in the two countries, the task of paving 
the way to the sanctuary for our straying brethren meets 
with peculiar difficulties, which the most generous and 
ardent zeal cannot overlook without being a loser, and 

a 5 



xxxiv author's preface. 

even without injuring the sacred cause it is intended 
to promote. 

I could produce many instances more, and it may be 
of some use to remark, that these are not things to be 
guessed at, or discovered by a superficial survey, and 
fathomed in the rapid course of what is called, a visit to 
Paris or a tour on the Continent. Time is necessary to 
look into the character, the passions, the capacities, the 
failures of a man : what length of time is then required 
to acquire an impartial and competent knowledge of 
the spirit and spiritual wants of a nation. But 
England was in a hurry to do good, and full of compassion 
for our state of religious debility, compared to her religious 
strength, hastened to cure it, only forgetting that the 
most excellent remedy, if mis-applied, may not only 
not heal the disorder, but inflict a new one. 

When such munificent aid is proffered from one 
country to another, however imprudently in many 
cases, though always with the most unquestionably 
excellent intentions, it requires but little knowledge of 
the human heart to foresee, that this aid will be by some 
accepted with avidity, by others, rather coldly received 
or reluctantly refused. Some are led away by the fond 
hope, that the ardour of charity will richly repay what 
appears a slight blemish of human prudence, and are 
dazzled by the bright prospect of extensive proselytism 
which it seems impossible to purchase at too high a 
price ; others, less confident and more calm, will stop 
coolly to examine whether the good projected could not 
be accomplished by wiser means, whether the generous 
allowances of foreign charity could not be placed out 
at a better and surer religious interest ; and even (as I 



, 



author's PREFACE. XXXV 

have already hinted) whether a real injury to the cause 
of religion be not inflicted by the system adopted for 
promoting its progress. This was the natural result 
among us ; in several parts of France, the help of English 
zeal was welcomed as a blessing ; in others, though 
hailed with unfeigned gratitude, it was not accepted 
at all hazards and without conditions. In the clerical 
body it was unavoidable that those men who now 
maintain, without the slightest compromise, that the 
Reformation was completed, as to theological progress 
and ecclesiastical order, by Luther and Calvin, and that 
these great servants of God have left their successors 
nothing to do but to walk in their footsteps ; those men 
who regret not being bound down under the yoke of an 
official creed, which would equally bind down all their 
fellow-labourers in the field, those men rushed eagerly 
forward to seize on the powerful and splendid assistance 
offered by committees and societies whose dogmatical 
tenets hardly admit of any difference of opinion on what 
is usually termed the fundamental doctrines ; while, 
on the contrary, it was unavoidable that those who admit 
of a far larger liberty of interpretation of the Gospel — 
who assert that the great reformers of the sixteenth 
century opened the gate not to shut it when entered — 
who assert that we examine in our turn in virtue of the 
same right by which they examined in their turn — who 
consider every member of the Church or of the clergy 
as possessing this full right of explaining the inspired 
volume according to his own conscience, his own reason 
and his own faith — who show to all and request from 
all an unfeigned respect for every sincere conviction 
drawn out of the Bible, and who believe that in the 

a 6 



XXXVI AUTHOR S PREFACE, 

same community each member may attend the ministry 
of the divine whose tenets he finds most in harmony 
with the Gospel — those men drew back with regret, but 
with a diffidence which they could not always conquer ; 
they met with suspicion, and they showed suspicion. 
Some blame might perhaps be thrown, both on the 
ardour of the former, and on the coldness of the latter ; 
neither party, perhaps, was faultless, a common situation 
among men ; on one side, there may have been a rash and 
hasty eagerness ; on the other, sometimes, too vague 
and partial a distrust. 

The inevitable consequences occurred ; in England, 
the co-operation of ministers or laymen who took the 
English view of the different questions, was accepted 
and rewarded as hastily as it was offered ; the reluctance 
of those whose prevailing opinion it was that the pecu- 
liarities of the religious situation of France could not, 
without peril, remain unnoticed, was misunderstood, 
and sometimes, from different quarters misrepresented : 
and the double result was, — prejudice against us in 
England, division and dissent among us in France : — 

Prejudice. — The leading members of various committees 
in England, unable to discover at a distance the serious 
motives which determined a considerable number of 
our clergy, of our consistories, and of our congre- 
gations, to withhold their support and to decline their 
generous assistance, found it difficult to put up with 
a refusal which savoured of indifference, with a silence 
which savoured of ingratitude. Rumours went fast and 
far abroad, increasing as they extended. It soon tran- 
spired that the French reformed Church was a Babel of 
confusion ; that it had no public and avowed tenets of 



AUTHOR S PREFACE. XXXV11 

Christian faith ; that its ministers preached, in general, 
sermons on desultory morality, more worthy of the 
bowers of Academus and the Gallery of Zeno than of 
an evangelical sanctuary, or on the beauty of green 
leaves in spring and the whiteness of snow in winter ; 
that an idle indifference prevailed among its ministers, 
who, in fact, were but mercenaries receiving a stipend 
from government ; that Protestantism had hardly ad- 
vanced a step since the first days of our civil liberties ; 
and it was a matter of course to brand us with the old 
denominations of Arians, Sabellians, Socinians, Latitu- 
dinarians (which last word was made French for the 
purpose), enforced by the more recent appellations of 
Unitarian and Rationalist. That all this was rumoured, 
commented on in official speeches, put in writing and in 
print, is but too certain. It must be admitted that the 
lesson was a hard one to learn ; and for these doleful 
prejudices against the immense majority of the clergy 
and laity of our communities, we were hardly consoled 
by the deep astonishment which I have heard English 
families so frequently express, after a first attendance 
at Divine service in one of our churches, at what they 
heard and saw, compared to what they expected to have 
heard and seen. 

Division and dissent. — And this is the main point in 
question; prejudice vanishes: misconception may be 
rectified ; calumny may be silenced by truth or hushed 
by disdain ; but dissension, when once introduced into 
the bosom of a community, is not easily eradicated or 
reconciled. It is a fact that before the peace of the 
year 1815, and even before the revolution of the year 
1830, dissent was unknown in France; the most that 



XX XVill AUTHOR S PREFACE. 

can be said is that the promoters of separatism, who 
then tried to reach the shore, soon discovered that they 
were going against the tide ; they retreated, not only 
before political difficulties, but before the reception they 
met with in the consistories and the congregations. 
And, again, it is a positive fact, universally admitted by 
all those, who are acquainted with our religious history 
for these fifty years past — it is a fact which party- spirit 
alone can be hardy enough to deny — that dissent, without 
foreign aid, never would have taken root in France. 
I am, and I have always been a firm supporter of dissent 
as to the right of dissenting ; it has always appeared to 
me obvious and unquestionable that, when a man does 
not find in the Church of his country, his family, 
his birth, what he considers as the genuine system of 
the Gospel and the only means of salvation, dissent 
becomes a positive right : it is a right, because it is a 
duty — a duty towards oneself, a duty towards God 
and Christ. I have repeatedly undertaken the defence of 
dissent in this point of view ; and long since I sent to 
the press the declaration that, if two dissenting chapels 
were opened, Rue St. Honore, No. 155. and No. 159. 
(the Oratoire is No. 157), and the keys left at my dis- 
posal, far from shutting, I would throw the doors open. 
But it is obvious that separatism is only entitled to 
respect and protection when the hopes of salvation, when 
the liberties of religion, when the blessings of grace, 
when the truths of the Gospel, are at stake. 

Now, dissent and division have broken out on all 
sides, in the precints of French Protestantism, favoured 
by an active minority of its ministers, discountenanced 
by the majority. Young men, without any previous 



AUTHORS PREFACE. XXXIX 

studies, without any learning but the easy art of repeat- 
ing by rote a number of texts thrown together at ran- 
dom and explained extempore by the well known quaint 
system of allegorical interpretation, are sent about the 
country, with the title of religious hawkers, or of Evan- 
gelists, to sell and give Bibles and tracts, and, of course, 
often to quarrel with the catholic priests ; in general, 
the first lesson they teach when they wander through a 
Protestant Church, is that the regular minister (if he 
does not approve of their endeavours) is any thing but a 
Christian, a servant of the Lord, a faithful disciple of 
the Gospel. The plan has been carried so far that it 
was literally intended to allow these young men, with- 
out any previous studies whatever, to receive orders, to 
enter into the rank and office of clergymen, and to become 
ministers of the Church, and with the full right of ad- 
ministering the sacraments ; one of them was, in fact, 
consecrated at Orleans, through the active intervention 
of some of the regular pastors ; this, however, was going 
rather too far ; the consistories took the alarm, and put 
a stop to this rashness ; but one may easily judge to 
what a pitch of disorderly division things can be brought 
amidst French Protestantism when this excess was 
possible, even for once. It is true that the spirit of 
strife and discord is unequally diffused throughout the 
country ; in the north, where the Protestant churches, less 
numerous and less considerable, are thinly scattered at 
large distances, widely separated and with few ministers, 
the influence of British and even of American fraternity 
has been most potent and almost general ; in Alsace and 
in the south, where French Protestantism has for ages 
recruited its most numerous congregations — where the 



xl author's preface. 

churches are, so to speak, side by side through a very 
large extent of country - — where upwards of one hundred 
ministers are at work together in the same Department, 
and keep up constant and intimate connections, the action 
of foreign zeal was comparatively lessened, and the re- 
formed communities have been much more left to them- 
selves. It is a positive fact, a fact which cannot escape 
an attentive eye, that already, though a few years only 
have elapsed since the churches were set in motion in 
this double direction, schism, a different characteristic 
of faith, piety, worship, study, and even charity, is every 
day growing wider and wider between the north and 
south of the Loire, Paris taking the lead on one side, 
Nismes on the other; the two head-posts are now 
watching the movements of one another, with a more 
anxious and doubtful attention than ever. 

As to the question whether dissent, which, in fact, 
is but a softer name for schism, does, in general, more 
harm than good, or more good than harm to the cause 
of religion, it may be that, in a Protestant country, 
where the government, the legislature, the immense 
majority of the nation, are Protestants — it may be that 
dissent creates a salutary emulation of zeal, of gene- 
rosity, of study, and of prayer ; it may be that indiffer- 
ence is aroused, that worldliness is undeceived, that 
idleness is set to labour, cupidity restrained, and into- 
lerance disarmed, and forced to accept of liberty and 
peace. These are not French questions ; I have not 
to vote on them ; and, to return to the point, of this I 
remain assured, of this I am more thoroughly convinced 
every day, that in France dissent is fatal to religion. To 
make good this assertion one word is enough : Catho- 



author's preface. xli 

licism, in France, very different (I again repeat) from 
what it is in England, has now but one single objection 
against Protestant faith, and the objection is — Vous vous 
disputez ! This melancholy and reproachful word is now 
uttered against our Church by Catholics of all classes, 
from one end of the country to another. Yes : our 
deplorable divisions, brought to light on all sides, now 
form the only serious barrier to our progress. " How 
can I become a Protestant, how can I insist on my 
wife and children becoming Protestants, though we are 
only Catholics by name, when, to enter Protestantism 
I must begin by choosing myself, and by calling on 
my family to choose, between a number of different Pro- 
testant sects and congregations, more bitterly opposed 
to one another than they all are to the Church of Rome ? 
It is much easier to remain where we have been, some- 
thing or nothing, but at least without intestine warfare 
in our family, or in our worship." This language, 
doleful to listen to and difficult to refute, is con- 
tinually rending our ears. The fact comes simply to 
this, that if dissent may in some respects promote re- 
ligion in a Protestant country, it can but injure the 
sacred cause when Protestantism forms the minority, 
and finds itself in presence of such a Catholicism as we 
have in France. A divided minority resigns, and can- 
cels all hopes of rising to power. Nothing has given a 
more lamentable and indisputable proof of all these 
statements — nothing has put a more fatal bar to the 
prosperity of our Churches and the success of our 
labours, than the co-existence, in France, of two Bible 
societies ; for this species of discord there was not the 
slightest pretence, and it is what the Catholics cannot 



xlii 

understand, nor bear with. The fact, that we are at 
variance regarding the simple circulation of the Scrip- 
tures without note and comment — of the Scriptures, 
the common and only basis of our creeds — has done 
more harm to the religion of the Gospel in France than 
all other discords, and ought to have been avoided at 
any cost. . . . God alone reads the future ; but I feel 
no hesitation in asserting that, if it were not for our 
divisions, France would become a Protestant nation a 
hundred years sooner. 

And what cruelly embitters the regret of the situa- 
tion to which we have been forcibly led, is the full 
conviction that all the good so generously planned for 
our religious welfare and progress, and showered down 
on our communities at such an enormous expense, might 
have been accomplished, including the Bible Societies, 
without dissent following in its train. And by what 
means ? Simply by admitting that the French are the 
French, and must be treated as such — simply by taking 
us for what we are — simply by the knowledge as a fact, 
and the acceptance as a necessity, of our present eccle- 
siastical and religious situation, of which these are the 
outlines : — The actual reformed Church of France is not 
the Church of the edict of Nantz, with a confession of 
faith and a general synod to enforce it ; but the Church 
of the Law of Germinal, delivered from the bondage of 
an official creed, and ruled by its independent consis- 
tories, the only ecclesiastical authority now in ex- 
istence; and, secondly, in the French Protestant 
communities there is, most probably, not to be found a 
Calvinist or a Lutheran, if to be a Calvinist or a 
Lutheran is to believe all that was taught by the two 



xliii 

reformers ; our Churches are composed only of Chris- 
tians, who draw their evangelical faith from the Gospel, 
with full freedom of examination, and on their indivi- 
dual responsibility. 

I now close these pages, written in full sincerity of 
language, and under the deep and solemn persuasion 
that in writing them I have been fulfilling, though 
the idea may seem presumptuous, a sacred duty towards 
two great nations and two glorious Christian com- 
munities. By all that I have said, I may without 
rashness nourish the hope that I have explained the 
present state of the public mind as to Christianity 
in France, both in and out of our Church; and the 
hope that I could accomplish this, made me consider 
it a bounden duty to write and publish the following 
work. The cry on all sides is growing every day more 
pressing to know, not what our fathers believed accord- 
ing to the given light of their age, but what we believe 
cording to the measure of grace bestowed on us; I have 
answered the demand as far as in my power, and I feel 
a deep sense of religious gratitude to the Divine good- 
ness, that I have been enabled to perform this long and 
heavy task, under the constant pressure of professional 
duties attendant on the ministry of a numerous and 
enlightened congregation. The fate of this volume I 
neither attempt nor wish to foresee ; if it contains truth 
according to the Gospel of the Lord, even though the 
present generation put the volume aside, and close it 
with disdain, it will be re-opened in time; the work 
must await its day: that day will come. This antici- 
pation I express with full confidence, and without the 
slightest precaution of affected humility ; ignorant and 
malevolent infidelity may sneer and say, — "This is 



xliv author's preface. 

vanity ! " but true piety, that mild and evangelical piety 
always inclined to honour sincerity, and to give it a 
candid hearing, will say — " This is faith ! " The last 
echo is a full consolation for the other, and deafens its 
noise. But, whether I am to see the fruits of this long 
labour ripen or wither on the branch, my gratefulness 
to Divine Providence will remain unaltered. The work, 
pursuant to the commands of my conscience, was one of 
the settled tasks of my life in this world, where every 
man has his own to perform. It is man's part to cast 
among his brethren the useful truths he thinks himself 
in possession of; it is the Lord's to make them fructify ; 
the little living seed falls as at random, but only where 
our hand sows it ; God alone giveth the increase, and the 
favourable wind bloweth where it listeth. 

It is impossible for me to lay aside my pen without 
offering my sincere thanks to the very able translator, 
who undertook the task with a high and disinterested 
sense of truly Christian zeal, and has performed it, 
though by no means an easy one, with remarkable 
talent ; the version, under his able pen, does full jus- 
tice to the original. 

The title of the work in French is " Le Christi- 
anisme Experimental ; " it was not thought possible to 
make these words English in the given sense. 

The texts in the notes are inserted according to the 
authorised version, with the differences of interpretation 
introduced apart. 

ATHANASE COQUEREL. 

Paris, June, 1847. 



CONTENTS. 



BOOK I. 

MAN, GOD, AND CREATION. 

Page 

Chap. I. Source of Certainty - - - 1 

II. Tendencies of Man - - - 3 

III. Notions of the Ideal - - - 3 

IV. Action of the Will upon the Tendencies - - 5 
V. The objective of our Tendencies - 8 

VI. Law of Differences and of Reciprocity - - 12 

VII. Of Language - - - - - 13 

VIII. Refutation of three great Errors - - 16 

IX. Notion of God - - - - - 19 

X. Idea, End, and Model of Creation - - 21 

XL Mystery of Free Will - - - - 23 

XII. Mystery in general - - - - 27 

XIII. Of the Will and of Progress - - - 30 

XIV. Universality of Progress - - - 34 
XV. Of the Phases of Progress - - - 35 

XVI. Immortality and Spiritualism - - - 38 

XVII. Existence and Nature of Animals - - 39 

XVIII. Continuity of Activity - - - - 46 

Notes to Book I. - - - - 49 
BOOK II. 

EXAMINATION OF THE PRINCIPAL PROBLEMS OF THE 
HUMAN MIND. 

XIX. Space, Time, Nature, Cosmogony, Chaos - - 78 

XX. Eden, the Fall, Original Sin - - 80 

XXL Physical Evil 81 

XXII. Eternal Punishments - - - - 84 

XXIII. Birth, Life, Infancy, Death, Resurrection - 86 



xlvi CONTENTS. 



Chap. XXIV. End of the World - - - - i 

XXV. Of Prayer 90 

XXVI. Phenomena of Sleep - - - 97 

XXVII. Effects of Distraction of Mind - - 100 

XXVIII. Ecstasy and Poesy - - - - 101 

Notes to Book II. - - - 105 

BOOK III. 
problem or redemption. 

XXIX. Man out of his sphere - - - 127 

XXX. Solution of the Problem of Redemption - 129 

XXXI. Necessity and Nature of a Redeemer - 134 

XXXII. Certainty suitable to a Redemption - 137 

XXXIII. Human Forms of Redemption - - 140 

XXXIV. Choice of the Period of Redemption - 142 
XXXV. The Redeemer recognised by the Period of 

His coming - - - - 144 

XXXVI. Polygamist and Monogamist Peoples - 147 

XXXVIL Effects of this Difference - - -152 

XXXVIII. Consideration of Idolatry - - - 152 

XXXIX. Choice of the Division of the Globe in which 

Redemption was effected - - 156 

XL. Selection of the Hebrew People, as Witnesses 
of Redemption and Guardians of Revela- 
tion ---_. 157 

Notes to Book III. - - - 160 

BOOK IV. 

THEORY OF REDEMPTION. 

XLI. Revelation a History of true Religion - 197 

XLII. Divine and Human Elements in Revelation - 200 

XLIII. Of Inspiration - 202 

XLIV. Of the Modes of Inspiration - - 204 

XL V. Free Will the first Limit of Inspiration - 206 

XLVI. Reason the second Limit of Inspiration - 208 

XL VII. Language the third Limit of Inspiration - 211 



CONTENTS. xlvii 

Page 

Chap. XL VIII. Nature of the Proofs of Inspiration - 216 

XLIX. Appreciation of Prophecy - - 219 

L. Theory of Miracles - 225 

LI. Redemption accomplished by a human 

Life - - - - - 235 

Notes to Book IV. - 238 

BOOK V. 

METHOD OF REVELATION. 

LII. Christianity not a System of Instruction - 281 
LIIL Truths determined by Facts in the Gospel - 284 
LIV. Truths taken for granted in the Gospel - 288 
LV. Truths put forth as Axioms in the Gospel - 289 
LVI. Truths reserved in the Gospel - - 295 
LVII. Development and Limit of Revelation - 300 
LVIII. Critical Application of the Proofs of Revela- 
tion - - - - - 303 
LIX. Peculiarity of the Old Testament - - 307 
* Summary and Conclusion on Revelation - 310 

Notes to Book V. - - - 315 

BOOK VI. 

THE FUTURE OF CHRISTIANITY IN TIME AND BEYOND TIME. 

LXI. Perpetuity of Christianity. First Guarantee : 

its Independence - 339 

LXII. Second Guarantee : its Accord with our Ten- 
dencies ----- 347 
LXIII. Direct and indirect Utility of Christianity - 349 
LXIV. Future Universality of Christianity - 352 

LXV. Gradual Emancipation of Christianity - 356 

LXVI. 1 . Emancipation from Discipline - - 357 

LXVII. 2. Emancipation from a Clerical Hierarchy 362 
LXVIII. 3. Emancipation from Authority - - 368 

LXIX. 4. Emancipation from Forms - - 376 

LXX. 5. Emancipation from the Letter of Reve- 
lation - - - - 382 

* The number of this Chapter has, by some oversight, been omitted. 



xlviii 



CONTENTS. 



Page 

Chap. LXXI. 6. Emancipation from Dogmas - - 384 

LXXII. Progress of Pure Faith insured by Printing - 392 

LXXHL 

LXXIV. 

LXXV. 

LXXVI. 

LXXVIL 



Christianity freed from Time and Space 
Heaven and Hell considered as within us 
The Coming of Christ according to True Faith 
Christianity in the future Life 
Expectation of Universal Restoration 

Xotes to Book VI. - 



395 
396 
398 
400 
406 



417 



CHRISTIANITY; 

ITS PERFECT ADAPTATION, 

&c. 



BOOK I. 

MAN, GOD, AND CREATION. 



C'est le consentement de vous a vous-meme, et la voix constante de 
votre raison, et non celle des autres, qui doit vous faire croire. — Pascal, 
Pensees, 1. 351. 

L'idee de Dieu est dans la notre par le suppression des limites de nos 
perfections. — Leibnitz, Rem. sur le Livre de V Origine du Mai, § 4. 



CHAPTER I. 

SOURCE OP CERTAINTY. 

Man has a consciousness of his own existence. 

The source of certainty consists in the fact of exist- 
ence, and the consciousness which we have of that 
fact.(l) 

The existence of man is individual. Each is one. 
The first notions which man forms of himself lead him 
to individualise ; pantheism comes by reflection only, 
and too late. Man, in the simplicity of the conscious- 
ness of himself, feels himself dependent, hut distinct 

£ 



2 SOURCE OF CERTAINTY. 

from all that surrounds and presses upon him. In this 
individualism, he says : I am myself alone, nothing 
more, nothing less, but connected with all. In pan- 
theism, he says : I am myself, more, the whole ; I am 
a fragment, not an individual. 

Individualism makes man that eagle which you see 
braving the sun ; it is an eagle, in every point of its 
body, in every look of its eyes, in relation to the earth 
which it has just left, the air in which it hovers, the 
sun on which it gazes .... pantheism makes man a 
polypus. 

Consciousness of existence is accompanied by two 
corollary notions, which are inseparable from it : 

1. This consciousness of being has not always existed ; 
it has had a beginning ; if my existence had not begun, 
I should know it, since I know my existence. I find 
myself in the present ; in the past I do not find myself. 

An existence unknown to him who possesses it, is 
not an existence, properly so called ; it reckons for 
nothing, or, more correctly speaking, it is to be reckoned 
otherwise. (See Book I. Chap, xvii., and Book II. 
Chap, xxiii.) 

2. In this existence, of which he is conscious, man 
feels that his will or his power has had no part : he does 
not preserve it, and if it is not he who maintains it, it 
is not he who has conferred it. He would employ for 
its maintenance, the power displayed to possess it. (2) 

Whatever may be the cause of the existence of man 
it is something foreign to himself; it is apart from 
and without him. Life, that phenomenon which the 
human mind has never succeeded in defining, has not 
its source in life. 



NOTIONS OF THE IDEAL. 6 

CHAP. II. 

TENDENCIES OF MAN. 

On the second glance, which he casts upon himself, man 
discovers in his being powers or tendencies : 

Intellectual power, the object of which is truth, 
knowledge ; in other words, an acquaintance with that 
which exists ; (3) 

Moral power, whose object is holiness or good ; we 
may also say, order ; (4) 

The power of the affections, whose object is relations, 
union (5), and of which goodness is merely an applica- 
tion : to do good is to love ; (6) 

The power whose object is enjoyment*, happi- 
ness ; (7) 

The religious power, whose object is relation with a 
being, who realises the ideal of these elements of our 
nature, and who, in order to satisfy them, must be 
infinite in knowledge, in holiness, in love, and in happi- 
ness. (8) 



CHAP. III. 

NOTIONS OP THE IDEAL. 

The ideal (of which it is important here to form a 
correct notion) is that which is given by the con- 

* La force sensible. It is impossible to translate this phrase 
into English. Our language does not possess any adjective,, by 
which sensible can be appropriately rendered. It may be re- 
garded as legitimate selfishness; when it occurs in the subsequent 
pages to avoid a paraphrase, the word sensitiveness will be used. 
— Trans. 

b 2 



4 NOTIONS OF THE IDEAL* 

ception of intelligence alone, and of which there exists 
no measure or standard. 

Thus, by what shall we measure the ideal of the just, 
the good, the beautiful, of happiness ? or what is the 
outward sign of its recognition ? How shall we be able 
to determine its limits ? It is the product and the con- 
ception of our minds alone. 

Thus, again, which of us will furnish the ideal of 
human nature ? A perfect man is the mere abstraction 
of our minds ; a perfect man is determined only by 
intelligence. 

The ideal, which cannot be measured, on the other 
hand serves as a measure ; it is the model, the original 
par excellence, by which we measure the value of that 
of which the ideal expresses or represents the supreme 
perfection. 

Thus in order to determine the merit of a good man, 
or of a man of genius, we compare him with the 
perfect man, with the ideal of human perfection which 
our reason has formed, and we appreciate the individual 
in proportion to the near or nearer resemblance which 
he presents to this ideal. 

The ideal is then a measure indispensable to our 
judgments, the only means we possess of determining 
the degree of imperfection in every thing which is not 
perfect. 

All our appreciations are founded upon the measure 
of the ideal. 

We measure degrees of knowledge by our ideal of 
infinite knowledge ; 

Degrees of love by our ideal of love ; 

Degrees of happiness by our ideal of happiness ; and 
we never judge or determine otherwise, 

Thus, the notion of the ideal, as the sole standard of 



ACTION OF THE WILL UPON THE TENDENCIES, O 

our judgments, is found in every human mind, obscure 
and confused in those which are rude and uncultivated, 
clear and distinct in those which are delicate and re- 
fined. 

This examination proves that the ideal cannot be a 
mere abstraction, and that it is right to assign it a 
value not only subjective but objective ; that is to say, 
that the ideal is not only a notion of our minds, a fancy 
of our imagination, a suggestion of our feelings, but 
that it is realised without us; that it exists; that it 
is a fact. If it was not so, all our judgments would 
have no other foundation than a non-entity, which im- 
plies a contradiction. 

CHAP. IV. 

ACTION OP THE WILL UPON THE TENDENCIES. 

These powers, these tendencies in man, are in no case 
a matter of choice, or the product of his will ; his will 
is utterly powerless as to their existence. He is as he 
is, independently of himself, and he feels forcibly that 
he cannot make himself other than he is. As he does 
not preserve his existence, he is equally incapable of 
modifying or recasting it. " How," says Nicodemus to 
Jesus, " can a man enter the second time into his 
mother's womb and be born?" These elements of our 
being are then inherent in our nature ; these powers 
are innate ; these tendencies are foreign and anterior to 
the will, since they exist without its participation. (9) 

The easy discovery, that the powers and tendencies of 
man are not the result of his will, leads us to determine 
the nature of the dominion which the will exercises 
over them. The power of the will here touches upon 

J$ 3 



6 ACTION OF THE WILL UPON THE TENDENCIES. 

its powerlessness. It proves powerless, if the object be 
to withdraw from man that which it has not given him, 
to efface from his being an impress which it has not 
made, to destroy in him his natural tendencies and to 
renew his being, whilst it is powerful in the employ- 
ment of his faculties, and in the direction of his ten- 
dencies. It is nothing as to the simple fact of the 
existence of these attributes ; in their multifarious and 
varied employment, it is every thing ; this is its 
domain. In other words, man disposes of himself ; he 
is not what he is, because he wills it, but he does what 
he wills ; he is compelled to be intellectual, moral, 
affectionate, susceptible of happiness, and religious ; 
but he is so, as it pleases him ; his will is free ; man 
is a free agent. (10) 

This will, this power, this freedom of man (for 
freedom is only power), which cannot go so far as to rob 
him of the elements of his nature, does go so far as to 
disturb their equilibrium, to lead him to prefer and cul- 
tivate one faculty to the detriment of others, and even 
so far as to subject the religious to the inferior ten- 
dencies, though its province is to rule, because it is 
that which most nearly approximates the infinite. It 
is obvious that the liberty of a being, whatever it may 
be, consists precisely in the free use of the faculties 
inherent in its nature and of all its faculties or powers 
without exception. There is no question of more or 
less free ; freedom exists or it does not. Imagine the 
smallest hindrance ; freedom exists no more ; it is only 
possible on condition of being complete ; it is only real 

on condition of being absolute If I carry the 

slightest fragment, the smallest grain of shot, I march 
perhaps, but I do not march unimpeded, and wherever 
freedom appears suspended or violated by outward facts, 



ACTION OF THE WILL UPON THE TENDENCIES. 7 

if man thinks he acts, he is under the influence of an 
illusion ; he does not perform acts ; he only makes 
novements. 

The preferences shown by our freedom or our will in 
favour of this or that faculty is explained by the fact, 
that these faculties or powers are distinct. There may 
/xist among them equilibrium, harmony, reciprocal 
assistance, there is never either natural confusion or 
artificial fusion. The search after truth, the practice of 
goodness, love, sensitiveness, and religiousness are all 
different tendencies : and when these tendencies of our 
being act in concert, the will is always able to deal with 
them, as science deals with light ; it presents the prism, 
resolves the luminous pencil, refracts the rays, and ex- 
hibits the splendid fragments at pleasure. 

This distinction, this innate and fundamental separa- 
tion, which makes our powers and tendencies co-existent 
elements, but neither confounded nor amalgamated, 
explains the fact, so indisputable and frequent as not to 
escape the most superficial observation, that in the cases 
of individuals, sometimes the one and sometimes the 
other predominates. One man possesses a powerful and 
active intelligence whilst his morality or his religiousness 
is very inert ; a second is moral without being religious ; 
whilst a third manifests a very high degree of religious 
feeling, and is at the same time very indulgent in his 
morality : one loves ardently, but at hazard and without 
rule, without modesty, without measure ; another is 
disinterested and generous, but his only merit is that of 
being serviceable to others. It is conceivable that all 
possible combinations of the five natural powers may be 
realised ; it frequently happens that different combina- 
tions are formed in the course of a single human life, 

B 4 



8 THE OBJECTIVE OF OUR TENDENCIES. 

and hence the amazing variety of characters which the 
race of man affords and presents. (11) 

Hence too all our faults ; these result from deficiencies 
of equilibrium alone; they spring from the usurped 
predominance of one or more of our tendencies over the 
rest, and sometimes of a single one. For, the slightest 
disturbance in the equilibrium of the balance leads in 
time to the decided preponderance of the scale. 



CHAP. V. 

THE OBJECTIVE OF OUR TENDENCIES. 

The subjective or interior elements of man are op- 
posed to the .objective or exterior, which correspond 
thereto ; or, in other words, if man considered as a sub- 
ject is naturally endowed with such powers and ten- 
dencies, it follows of necessity, that there exist without 
his being, and within his reach, objects, which engage 
his powers, and excite his tendencies. It would be a 
contradiction to suppose that powers were exercised in 
a void and in relation to nothing ; it would be a con- 
tradiction to imagine that tendencies tended towards 
that which had no existence. 

Gravitation is only possible on condition of being 
universal : the magnet cannot be single ; two, at least, 
are necessary ; there could be no attraction, if there was 
nothing which attracted. 

The intellectual power of man proves that there must 
be an object for its exercise and study — knowledge : 
truth is something real ; it consists in the exact appre- 
ciation of things which exist. (12) 

The moral faculty of man proves the existence of a 
rule, a law, by which his will ousrht to be governed.(13) 



THE OBJECTIVE OF OUR TENDENCIES. V 

The duty of man is something positive. If his will 
were his law, if his will was not subject to a rule which 
it never made, his will would never experience either 
struggle or regret. But it often struggles against the 
deed before its perpetration (14) ; it often feels affliction 
and regret after its completion : there is therefore a law. 

Remorse — that mysterious impression which in its 
very essence is involuntary — remorse, the natural 
mourning of virtue, the forced vexation at successful 
evil, furnishes a demonstration of the law ; all sadness 
is involuntary. 

The existence of the affections proves the existence of 
beings which excite and stimulate them. The necessity 
of loving supposes objects to love, and from this faculty 
results the great and holy law of mutuality, of recipro- 
city. Beings endowed with passions and affections are 
necessarily dependant upon and responsible to one 
another. (15) Family life, social spirit, municipal rights, 
patriotism, universal brotherhood, hereditary ties, or by 
whatever name this reciprocity may be designated, all 
spring from the existence of our affections, which indis- 
solubly bind our fates to those of our fellow-men. In- 
tellectual, or moral, or religious solitude is no less 
impossible than that of the affections, and we shall see 
how pregnant this idea is. 

These remarks are sufficient to destroy all that super- 
stitious admiration which is felt for the life of anchorites, 
and to prove how contrary to nature it is. Hermits are 
monsters. (16) 

The existence of sensitiveness proves the possibility, 
the lawfulness of happiness ; man would be content to 
be, if well being appeared to him, something which 
implied a contradiction ; despair would be his portion) and 

B 5 



10 THE OBJECTIVE OF OUR TENDENCIES. 

not enjoyment ; he would regard misery as his natural 
condition. 

The impression of the beautiful, one of the sources 
of happiness in man, is nothing but the harmonious pro- 
duct of his powers, the satisfaction of his tendencies in 
their equilibrium. The beautiful increases or decreases, 
and pleases, all things being equal, precisely in propor- 
tion to the number of those tendencies which find a 
simultaneous satisfaction. 

Thus the Apollo Belvidere possesses a very high 
degree of beauty, because it represents, in perfect 
harmony, the satisfaction of the sensitive and the moral 
power ; it is the type of humanity taken in a moment 
of moral repose and of sublime happiness. 

The certain existence of self and of the powers and 
tendencies which animate it prove the existence of not- 
self ; the subjective proves the reality of the objective, 
because our tendencies aim at objects without us, and 
seek their aliment, their means and their gratification, 
in something exterior to ourselves. It is certain they 
cannot tend towards anything except realities. (17) 

Does it not seem indisputable, that the phenomena 
or appearances which present themselves to us, and 
which bring all our tendencies into play, suppose some- 
thing which appears, something which exists, presents 
itself to us in a certain manner, and under another 
aspect doubtless to beings differently organised. It by 
no means follows that we are certain of knowing the 
essence, the real nature of those objects whose ap- 
pearances strike us, whose attractions engage and 
stimulate us ; the only result is the reality of their 
existence. (18) 

Hence the double aspect under which the not-self 
presents itself; hence its double use; it is a means (19), 



THE OBJECTIVE OF OUR TENDENCIES. .11 

an instrument, and often an obstacle which promotes or 
stops our progress on the way towards the infinite. And 
the manner in which the not-self so frequently becomes an 
obstacle instead of always being a means, and is opposed 
rather than administers to the normal satisfaction of 
our tendencies, is a great mystery, which will be eluci- 
dated in the subsequent part of these inquiries. 

The easy discovery, that the not-self becomes an ob- 
stacle to self is moreover a proof of the reality of not- 
self; for all that operates as a hinder ance to me is not 
of me. 

This remark tends to make us think, that our own 
bodies are comprehended in this not-self, (see Book I. 
Chap, xvi.), for our bodies often present obstacles, 
and in time will fail us ; they often frustrate intentions 
the most energetically resolved, betray our activity, so 
to speak, at the most critical moments, and badly accord 
with the aspirations of our thoughts. 

We are displeased that the not-self should present 
obstacles, and it is in this feeling, which man always 
experiences, even without analysing it, and sometimes 
without even being aware of it, that is to be found the 
explanation of that love of the marvellous, so powerful, 
so credulous, and so general. The marvellous is nothing- 
more than the fancied conquest of self over not-self— 
the imaginary empire which self assumes" over the 
world, of which it is not master. 

And it may be said, that all knowledge consists in 
the just distinction between self and not-self, which 
explains to us the manner in which the realities of 
knowledge dissipate the chimaeras of the marvellous. 

In this not-self the whole of humanity is comprised 
except self and the proof of the reality of not-self 
deduced from the tendencies of self towards what is 



12 LAW OF DIFFERENCES AND OF RECIPROCITY. 

without, and of the fact that these tendencies meet there 
either a hindrance or a means, applies with still more 
precision to the existence of mankind. It is towards 
mankind principally, that our affections tend, which they 

could not do, if humanity did not exist Pleasant 

and affecting thought ! I am sure of the existence of 
my fellow-men, because I love them. 



CHAP. VI. 

LAW OF DIFFERENCES AND OF RECIPROCITY. 

In humanity every thing which is true of the in- 
dividual is true of the race, and in like manner, what 
is true of all, is true of each. Our fellow -men are our 
fellow-men in all respects ; the true knowledge of 
human nature admits of no privileges. 

Individual differences in capacity, temperament, health, 
lot, length of life, and manner of death are necessary to 
the common destiny ; but these differences do not raise 
or degrade any man above or below the level of those 
principles which regulate our existence. 

If, in this book, we write not fables, but a history, it 
is the history of every individual. 

All men are men ; but all men are different (20), and 
these natural differences are also as old as humanity ; 
history represents Cain and Abel, the two first-born of 
men, as different. 

The outward fact of the existence of mankind modi- 
fies the inward condition of each man, and modifies 
the whole of that condition from the cradle to the 
grave, and even beyond, in immortality. (21) It is only 
by abstraction, or hypothesis, that a man can be re- 
garded as the sole existing being of his kind. Man in 






or* language:. 13 

a state of absolute solitude would be no longer man ; 
for to exist as a man is to exist among mankind, is to 
have fellow-men ; it is to be one amongst many. An 
isolated human life would no longer be a human life. 

From this double existence, both individual and 
collective, which man possesses, there results the law of 
reciprocity, already recognised. (22) 

This law is nothing but the expression of the esta- 
blished fact, that all mankind react upon the individual, 
and the individual upon the whole race. 

The law of reciprocity is either simultaneous and 
contemporaneous, or hereditary and successive. 

Men form members of this social union during their 
lives and beyond ; during their lives with the whole of 
their generation, and beyond it with all their pos- 
terity. (23) 

All of us hold in our hands the same thread to guide 
us ; it winds across and around the whole globe, and 
stretches throughout all ages. 



CHAP. VII. 

OP LANGUAGE. 

The simultaneous existence of the human self and 
not-self, or, in other words, of the individual and the 
race, necessitates a means of relation, of communication 
between the faculties and tendencies of the various 
individuals ; there was needed an electric chain, always 
ready, responsive to every spark. 

The tendencies of beings endowed with affections 
cannot be conceived without a means of communication. 

The means of establishing this relation is language. 

Without the faculty of speech, man is possible; man- 



14 OF LANGUAGE. 

kind is not. To suppose the whole family of man deaf 
and dumb would be the mere play of an unsound 
imagination. 

All our powers or tendencies, except religiousness, 
require this faculty; but it is more necessary to some 
than to others. 

Language is indispensable, in the highest degree, to 
the intellectual faculty ; it is that one of our powers 
which makes the greatest and the most fruitful use of 
speech. 

It is indispensable, too, to the gratification of our 
emotions ; that mutual silence, which the strongest 
feelings sometimes impose, is only a momentary power- 
lessness which will afterwards be explained. 

It is less needful to our sensitiveness ; great joys and 
pure gratifications do not seek for expansion without, 
at least in the first moments of enjoyment ; deep grief 
is also silent; it is silent sometimes even to falling 
asleep. According to the beautiful expression of the 
sacred historian, the Apostles fell asleep for sorrow, 
under the olive trees of Gethsemane. 

The moral tendency has still less need of the gift of 
language ; well-doing does not consist in words. 

The religious tendency alone makes no demand upon 
this faculty ; man without it would be a religious 
being ; it is not by speaking that he aspires towards the 
infinite. 

It will be thus seen to what extent religion is spi- 
ritual, inasmuch as the most spiritual means of commu- 
nication is useless to it. 

Mental prayers are the best. 

Language is of the earth ; religion is from heaven. 

To regard acts of worship as an objection against this 
exalted privilege of religion, which places it above the 



OF LANGUAGE. 15 

need of language, would be to confound religion and 
worship, that is to say, the essence and the form. In 
acts of worship the affections avail themselves of the 
use of speech ; and it is only by the instrumentality of 
language that social worship becomes possible. 

Language, destined to serve as the dragoman or in- 
terpreter of human tendencies, is a perpetual demon- 
stration of the existence of not-self. 

The principal advantage of this employment of lan- 
guage is to carry the power of the affections to the 
extent of social union. (24) 

The first province in which the affections are dis- 
played, is the family ; 

The second, society. 

Language renders society possible. (25) 

Here one of our preceding ideas again finds a place ; 
religion has no need of speech, but language renders 
worship possible, which is merely religion in its social 
form. 

Language could not serve for these purposes, except 
it was as little material as possible, if the expression 
may be allowed. The powers themselves being spiri- 
tual, it was necessary that their means of communica- 
tion should be as conformable as possible to their nature ; 
and, in fact, of all material things with which we are 
acquainted, language is the most spiritual. 

As regards sound, it belongs to the material ; as 
respects language, to the mind. 

Language is sound become intellectual ; it is utter- 
ance rendered significant. (26) 

Words are at the same time sounds and ideas. 

Listen to an unknown tongue : the sound alone 
reaches the ear. (27) 

Listen to a language understood : the sound reaches 



16 REFUTATION OF THREE GREAT ERRORS. 

the ear, and the idea with it, inseparable from one 
another* 

It does not depend upon ourselves to separate them, 
and to receive the sound without the idea, or the idea 
without the sound. 

Considered in this point of view, language is a per- 
petual demonstration of spiritualism ; it is placed on the 
unappreciable limits of the two worlds — the physical 
and intellectual ; it binds the subjective to the object- 
ive ; intellectual and simple within us, material or 
multiform or complex without ; for, several words com- 
bine to form a single idea. 

And this admirable means of communication, so 
simple, so easy, so pregnant, so rapid — which is one of 
the conditions of social union, and insures for ever the 
transition from the intellectual to the material world — 
this bond between self and not-self depends upon the 
play of a few organs, and the emission of a little air ! 

Finally, the difference of language serves to maintain 
the division of mankind into nations, — a division still 
for a long time indispensable to the destinies of our 
race. (28) 

CHAP. VIII. 

REFUTATION OF THREE GREAT ERRORS. 

The simple investigation of man, which we have just 
made, will suffice to remove from our path three great 
errors, which obstruct many minds in their progress on 
the way of truth : — 

Pyrrhonism, or systematic doubt ; 

Pantheism, or the confounding of all existences in 
one ; 



REFUTATION OF THREE GREAT ERRORS', 17 

Absolute spiritualism. 

Pyrrhonism is annihilated by the consciousness which 
man possesses of his own existence ; we are forced to 
believe at least in ourselves, and to be certain of our- 
selves. 

Pantheism is annihilated by the feeling of individu- 
ality ; the unity of self is revealed at the same time, 
and in the same manner, as its existence ; and this 
unity, which reduces pantheism to a mere immense dis- 
pute about words, this unity cannot be an illusion, 
because, whilst sensible of his deficiencies, and of how 
much he can acquire, man feels also that he is complete 
in himself. 

The acorn knows that it is an oak, and not a forest. 

I have a consciousness of my own existence, and I 
know also that I am none other than myself; I have 
no consciousness of the existence of the universe, which 
-I should have, if pantheism were true, if every thing 
"were one, if there existed only one being, if my soul 
were a fraction of the world, and my thoughts, instead 
of being a book in itself, and a complete work, were 
only a line, a word, or a dot, in the great book of the 
universe. 

Finally I suffer, and the fact of suffering, which is 
only a mode of existence, and mixed up with the con- 
sciousness of existence, furnishes a positive demonstra- 
tion against pantheism. How is it possible to conceive 
an infinite being which suffers, and consequently causes 
itself to suffer ? 

Absolute spiritualism, which denies the existence of 
matter, offers no more effectual resistance to the test of 
our theory than either of the others, because the noU 
self opposes an obstacle to our tendencies. But if the 
material not-self does not exist in reality, if all the 



18 REFUTATION OF THREE GREAT ERRORS, 



mir 



phenomena of nature are merely things that pass in our 
minds, in that case it would be ourselves who obstruct 
ourselves ; this would merely be our tendencies ope- 
rating as a hindrance to our tendencies. No, when we 
strike against a barrier, it exists. 

The idea, which existed among the ancients, of know- 
ledge by reminiscence, which is merely an hypothesis 
without a foundation, — an idea, moreover, less important 
in the metaphysics of religion than those which we 
have just examined, — is, in its turn, if not rejected or 
confuted, at least removed. This theory teaches that 
the soul has passed through a state of existence anterior 
to the present human life, and that it brings with it 
into the latter, ideas acquired in the former ; these 
ideas, these notions, are recovered vague and confused, 
when awakened in us by the observations and know- 
ledge obtained in the present life. The whole of this 
system, according to our view, is a mere reflection of 
oriental reveries on the transmigration of the soul— ^ 
reveries developed and embellished by the genius of the 
most poetic among the Greek philosophers. Whether, 
however, the system of knowledge by reminiscence be 
true or false, is a question which subjective philosophy 
may regard with indifference. In fact, according to its 
principles, an existence without a perpetual conscious- 
ness of itself is not an existence properly so called. 
Of what importance is it to have lived, if I have no 
useful recollections of what that life was ? This pre- 
amble to life could only be, at most, a preparation of 
the same kind as infancy, less positive, less important, 
the anterior limb of life, an unknown vestibule to 
our world, in which imagination may disport itself at 
pleasure, but where knowledge and faith have no in- 
terest in following, (29) 



NOTION OF GOD. 19 

CHAP. IX. 

NOTION* OF GOD. 

Self then proves not-self, in which matter and mankind 

are comprehended The last word remains to be 

spoken ; the last veil to be raised ; self proves the 
existence of not-self in which God is comprehended. 

If every inward tendency necessarily implies an 
outward reality, religiousness in man proves the ex- 
istence of God ; this subjective religiousness must have 
an object ; this object is God. Man is a religious 
being, which he could not be, did not God exist ; this 
would be a tendency towards a non-entity. (30) 

I find in myself the ray, and I believe in the sun. 
Do you deny the sun ? . . . Account for the ray. 

What then is God ? 

He is the ideal realised. 

He is the infinite, not personified, but personal- 
ised.. (31) 

God is not an abstraction of our minds, because we 
carry in the depths of our being a religious power, 
which impels us to keep up relations with him. We do 
not seek to enter into relations with a pure abstraction- 
Did not God really exist, towards what object would 
this religious impulse tend ? 

If God were merely an abstraction, the religious 
impulse would tend towards itself, which implies a 
contradiction. 

Did not God really exist, man would have the simple 
notion of the infinite, but not an active tendency towards 
the infinite personalised. 

These relations constitute religion (32) ; he, who 
realises the ideal which we seek, is found — is God. 



20 NOTION OP GOD. 



5 and 



God is then the ideal of intelligence. 

God furnishes the last term of our comparisons 
of our judgments. 

What if we should enunciate the problem in terms 
which have affrighted so many believers and puzzled so 
many philosophers : Is it possible for the absolute, the 
infinite to be personal; personality and individuality 
imply a limit ; how do the ideas of individuality and 
infinity agree ; does not the one necessarily exclude the 
other ? . . . . Subjective faith does not resolve the 
problem so put, because it is reduced to ask, "What is 
the nature of God, — which is only known to himself (33) ? 
and it is contradictory to suppose that a finite being 
can acquire a perfect knowledge of the infinite. (34) 
But subjective faith overrules this problem ; it puts 
it aside legitimately and passes beyond, because the 
religious tendency within us can only find its objective 
in a reality and not in an abstraction ; this is so true, 
that God reduced to an abstraction would become the 
despair, instead of being the contentment, of the reli- 
gious affections. 

Since the ideal is one, God is one. (35) 

The proof of the unity of God springs from the same 
source as that of his existence. 

And this proof of the existence of God is not the best, 
but the only good and valid one — the only one : it lies 
beyond the province of reasoning ; it does not admit of 
reasoning ; it imposes silence upon reason ; and hence 
its validity. Every argument or chain of arguments in 
favour of the existence of God may be met and balanced 
by an equivalent argument of an opposite tendency. 
The most exalted and the most profound geniuses have 
failed to prove that God exists, and that He does not. 
The question is not a subject of reasoning. But where 



IDEA, END, AND MODEL OF CREATION. 21 

reasoning fails and goes adrift in an ocean of mere 
helplessness, the innate feeling does not fail. The 
religious faculty is always a faculty, and the infinite 
has so made us after his own image as to compel us to 
believe in Him. 

The Holy Scriptures do not contain a single argu- 
ment in favour of the existence of God. 

According to the system of theology explained in 
these pages, a glimpse is already obtained of the ab- 
surdity of the alleged incompatibility between philo- 
sophy and religion. Philosophy is truth seen in man : 
religion is truth seen in God ; it is always the same 
truth ; for truth is one. The difference in this case 
depends upon the point of view in which it is regarded. 
Only, to commence with God is to pre-suppose belief ; 
to commence with man is to examine and establish 
before believing. 

CHAP. X. 

IDEA, END, AND MODEL OF CREATION. 

It has been already said that man, who does not pre- 
serve his existence, feels that he has not conferred it ; 
and secondly, that his tendency to relations with the 
infinite is no more the product of his will than the 
other tendencies which it embraces and exalts. 

From these facts (and let us not forget that they are 
facts and not reasonings) it results : 

First, that man has been created ; 

Secondly, that he has been created by God. (36) 

The finite can have no first cause except the infinite. 
The tendency of man towards the infinite proves, in 
fact, that he has emanated from the infinite ; these 



22 IDEA, END, AND MODEL OF CREATION. 






finite tendencies can only be the work of the infinite 
being towards which they tend. 

Creation, in God, is a natural consequence of in- 
finity ; and this explains how the fact of creation is 
completely a truth of faith, and not of reasoning. (37) 

And since God is one, everything except himself is 
creation (38) ; without this, the ideal would neither be 
one, nor a being ; and we have seen that religiousness 
in man tends, not towards the ideal personified in ima- 
gination, but towards the ideal personalised. Man, an 
individual, aspires towards God, an individual. 

The end of creation is clearly indicated to us by our 
powers and tendencies ; we have been created to satisfy 
them ; such is our legitimate destiny, our divine calling. 

And here appears the absurdity of disputes respect- 
ing the special object of creation. It has been asked, 
whether this end be the cultivation of the understand- 
ing, the discovery of truth, goodness, merit, holiness, 
love, happiness, or worship. How is it that it has not 
been obvious that all this, in short, comes to the same 
thing ? The dust of the diamond is always of the 
diamond. 

God, in creating, had no model except himself. (39) 
Thus our tendencies are nothing but his powers trans- 
ferred from infinite to finite, reproduced in a measure, 
limited for us by himself. In fact it is always against 
the infinite that our finite faculties strike, and are 
arrested, without abdicating their functions. 

All our powers, all our faculties, are found united in 
God : He knows, and we know ; He is holy, and man 
is moral ; He loves, and man has affections ; He is 
supremely happy, and man is sensible to enjoyments ; 
it may be even said that religion is reciprocal (40) ; that 
God is religious towards man, as man is religious 



MYSTERY OF FREE WILL. %6 

towards God ; religion is a bond, and if man holds one 
extremity of the chain, God holds the other. 

For this very reason, this word can imply nothing sad 
or mournful ; it is natural, so to speak, and every thing 
natural is joyous. To represent religion as something 
severe, gloomy, austere, and an enemy to our legitimate 
enjoyments, is to misrepresent its character ; he who is 
sorrowfully religious does not understand its nature. (41) 

From these principles, there finally flows another im- 
portant consequence — that, to trust in God is to trust 
in oneself; for it is to trust in the faculties which He 
has conferred upon us, and in what they teach us of 
Him. (42) 

For example, to trust in God, as a good and kind 
being, is to trust in the idea which we have formed of 
his goodness and benignity, with this qualification, it is 
true, that these attributes in God exceed our ideas of 
them as the infinite exceeds the finite. 

If God, in creating, had no other model but himself, 
it is natural, that the ideal realised in God should be, 
as we have already seen, the term of comparison, which 
serves as the basis of all the judgments of our reason. 

And if creation is in God a consequence of infinity, 
if in creating He had no other model than himself, it 
follows that creation is perfect. (43) 



CHAP. XI. 

MYSTERY OF FREE WILL. 

It has been seen, that in the exercise of our powers, 
the fact of the will or of human freedom is always ob- 
served ; it would be impossible that the exercise of 
those powers should by constraint attain the end for 



24 MYSTERY OF FREE WILL. 

which God has imparted them. An intelligence search- 
ing after truth in spite of itself; a morality practising 
virtue against its will ; affections loving by constraint ; 
sensitiveness accepting involuntary happiness, are all so 
many flagrant contradictions in terms. A mental power 
is not a power except so far forth as it is independent. 
Man is then free in his part of the finite, as God is in 
the infinite ; that is to say, that man acts in his quality of 
man with the same independence, that God acts as God ; 
or, in other terms still, freedom is power, man is power- 
ful as man, and God is powerful as God. 

It will be seen, that the mystery of free will — that 
ancient stone of stumbling in all religions, all systems 
of philosophy, and all schools, lies in the point of sepa- 
ration of the two powers, the creating power and the 
power created. To ask how man is free, is to ask how 
the Creator, his work being finished, separated himself 
and kept himself separate from his creature and leaves 
him to himself ; it is to ask what method God pursues 
to constitute an individuality. Obviously, God alone 
knows. (44) 

Obviously too, this our insuperable and necessary 
ignorance of the manner in which the Creator effects 
the withdrawal of his power or his will, and remains in 
his individuality when he leaves the creature to his own, 
can in no respect weaken the certainty which we have 
of our own freedom. A fact, lying without us, obscure, 
unknown, inexplicable, by no means invalidates the 
certainty of a fact within us, of which we are conscious. 
That ignorance does not destroy this knowledge, that 
obscurity does not overshadow this light. (45) 

The same mystery appears again in inactive existences. 

We know not how the Creator's power ceases to weigh 
upon free beings, raises and keeps raised the sluices of 
the will. 






MYSTERY OF FREE WILL. 25 

We know no better the manner in which creative 
power detaches itself from matter, and leaves physical 
laws and secondary causes to play their part. 

The hand of God, we say, launched the planets in 
the tangent of their orbits, and since that time the 
universe rolls on alone. But how has God withdrawn 
his hand ? That is the question. 

The question is not then respecting the freedom of 
the will, since it presents itself identically where there 
is no liberty. We do not comprehend how God should 
leave two Greeks in the age of Pericles to choose, 
one to be Socrates and the other Anitus, or two 
Jews in the age of Augustus, one to be Caiaphas and 
the other St. Paul ; and we know no better how God 
leaves the heavenly bodies to attract one another in the 
direct ratio of their masses, and in the inverse ratio of 
their distances. The same obscurity conceals the 
means of accomplishing the moral and the physical law, 
although on the one hand there is freedom, and on the 
other coercion. 

This illustration loses nothing of its value, if we 
adopt the system which supposes that the Creator pre- 
serves creation by the constant maintenance of order 
and life, not by laws fixed and established, as it were, 
once for all, but by a continuous, suitable, and efficient 
intervention. In this system its advocates adopt the 

I doctrine of an immutable will, continually manifesting 
itself in the regulation of creation ; in that more usually 
received, we believe in laws which never fall into de- 
suetude : this, however, is merely a vast and flagrant 
dispute about words ; the whole discussion is impreg- 
nated with notions of time and space, both of which are 
foreign to God, (See Book II. Chap, xix.) The laws of 
nature only remain in force because God so wills ; and 



26 MYSTERY OF FREE WILL. 

who does not perceive that when we speak of an 'in- 
finite being, acts succeeding each other without relaxa- 
tion, interval, or diminution, and laws whose force is 
consecutively maintained, come precisely to the same 
thing? At the bottom of this dispute, there are 
merely human ideas transferred to God. 

Let it be here carefully observed, that the concatena- 
tion, the necessity, is not in the physical law itself, but 
in the constancy of the law. The law of universal 
gravitation once established by the Creator, it becomes 
necessary ; in other words, bodies infallibly attract one 
another in the recognised proportions. But who shall 
demonstrate that the law itself was necessary ? This 
would be to pretend to prove that God could not have 
constructed the physical universe on any other plan 
— have subjected matter to other laws, or to different 
combinations, 

Finally, we may say with respect to the freedom of 
the will, what has been already said of the existence of 
God : man believes in God, therefore God exists ; 
man believes that he is free, and therefore he is free, 
for freedom cannot be a mere conjecture ; we cannot 
be under an illusion in seeking whether we are free or 
not ; if we are so, we know and feel it. This remark 
explains the powerlessness of all attacks against the 
freedom of the will, and of all the apologies for fatalism. 
The consciousness of the human race has always proved 
too strong for arguments ; it has always replied to the 
fatalists, of what use is it to confound, if you cannot 
persuade me ? 



MYSTERY IN GENERAL. £7 

CHAP. XII. 

MYSTERY IN GENERAL. 

This first mystery of religion, to which all others may 
be referred, sufficiently shows what in religion is a 
mystery. It has been said that all mystery is merely 
ignorance ; not so : that of which we are completely 
ignorant has for us no existence. A mystery supposes 
a certain knowledge ; for in order to judge that an 
object, whatever it may be, is mysterious, it is at least 
necessary to know that it exists ; the idea of a reality 
precedes, in the mind, the idea of the obscurity by 
which it is surrounded. Thus it is not true that mys- 
teries in religion are merely things of which we are 
ignorant : they are matters of partial knowledge. 

In the middle ages the existence of the antipodes 
and the sphericity of the earth were mysteries, because 
men were unacquainted with the law of gravitation. 
Take away the knowledge of the fact, and no part of 
the notion of a mystery remains. 

A mystery in religion is not the radiant day, in which 
every thing appears in a clear light ; nor is it that pro- 
found darkness in which we see nothing ; it is the twi- 
light of reason and faith, in which the objects are real 
and active, but at a distance, seen in a confused and 
gloomy shade, so that the sharpness of the outline is 
effaced, the colours are confounded, and the objects 
themselves commingle ; the characters, like an inscrip- 
tion, are read in broken words, by the feeble glimmer- 
ing of a sepulchral lamp, and the only word which is 
everywhere distinctly legible is the word — mystery ! 

A mystery, then, is only a limit, an impassable 
c 2 



28 MYSTERY IN GENERAL. 

boundary ; but beyond which we have a foresight of 
the unknown. 

Arrived at this limit, human intelligence stops; it 
knows no more, but it knows that more remains to be 
known. It can make no further discoveries, but it 
knows that something remains to be discovered. 

Arrived at this limit, human intelligence knows that, 
for the moment at least, it has reached the end of its 
progress ; but it knows also that the way of knowledge 
continues beyond. 

Hence it follows, that nothing is more reasonable 
than to acknowledge that reason has its limits. 

Hence it follows besides, that mystery applies not 
to religion only, but is universal. There is a limit not 
only to the extent of progress in religion, but on all 
the highways of knowledge. All knowledge terminates 
in a mystery ; all human light is lost in obscurity ; all 
human discourse arrives at a last word, which is pro- 
nounced, and which supposes, necessitates, and suggests 
another, which cannot be pronounced. When an at- 
tempt is made to utter it, the wisest man merely stam- 
mers forth confused sounds. 

The light of religion thus leads to the very borders 
of the night of infinity. 

The haughty and tranquil mathematics lose themselves 
in the obscurities of the infinitesimal calculus ; they, 
too, have their limit, and depths which cannot even be 
measured. 

This arises from the fact, that all our tendencies, our 
intellectual powers inclusive, emanate from the infinite, 
tend thither, and are again absorbed therein ; it is 
therefore necessary that they should always look beyond 
their utmost efforts, to a point impossible to attain. 

The very limit itself lies in the twilight, or, to speak 



MYSTERY IN GENERAL. 29 

without a figure, a mystery is necessarily vague, con- 
fused, undefined, so that the line of demarcation between 
what we know and what we do not know can never 
become clear, sharp, and well-defined. Our powers 
still proceed groping for the path before relinquishing 
the attempt at progress. The human mind is so con- 
stituted that between that which it knows and that of 
which it is ignorant, there is always something which it 
believes it knows. 

These last observations, which are the results of uni- 
versal experience, serve to complete the definition given 
of a mystery ; a mystery is that which is placed, so to 
speak, partly on this side, and partly beyond the 
boundary of reason. 

If this mysterious point lay wholly beyond, it would 
be wholly unknown. 

If wholly within, it would be thoroughly known ; the 
idea would be adequate to the object* 

Placed upon the obscure limits, it is partly known 
and partly undiscerned, that is to say, it remains for us 
in a state of mystery. 

The force of these considerations is in no respect 
weakened by asking, whether the human mind really 
possesses any ideas which lie wholly on this side the 
line of demarcation, or whether on the contrary all 
truths, the simplest as well as the most elevated, do not 
lie partly within and partly without the range of our 
intellectual powers ; this is, however, merely to allege, 
that there is some mystery in all knowledge, and, so far 
from contradicting, serves to confirm the definition. (46) 

God is the only intelligent being to whom nothing is 
mysterious, and to be astonished or indignant at meeting 
with mysteries, is to be astonished or indignant at not 
being God. (47) 

c 3 



30 OF THE WILL AND OF PROGRESS. 



The devil himself did not offer, as a temptation to 
man, all knowledge ; he only promised him the know 
ledge of good and eviL 



. 



chap, xnr.; 

OF THE W1JLL AND OF PROGRESS. 



What is the sphere of freedom ? We have already 
defined it: its field of operation is our powers and 
tendencies. Our will makes such use of them as it 
pleases, and gives them the direction which it prefers. 
To will or to act is to choose. Every action of a free 
being is a choice, and every choice implies an alternative, 
one at least. (48) 

Thus, each of our tendencies is, as it were, placed in 
the face of an alternative. 

The alternative of the intellectual power is true and 
false. 

The alternative of the moral power is good and eviL 

The alternative of the affections is devotedness and 
selfishness. 

The alternative of our sensitiveness is contentment 
and suffering. 

The alternative of religiousness is fervour and in- 
difference. 

These alternatives, between which it is the province 
of our freedom to choose, and these directions which 
each of our tendencies may follow, are indefinite ; nothing 
limits, nothing terminates them ; they never say, it is 
enough. Our faculties are never loaded to the ut- 
most (49) ; there is always room for something more. 

The intellectual powers can never cease to recognise 









OF THE WILL AND OF PROGRESS* 31 

truths, or to adopt errors ; as knowledge has no limits, 
neither has error. (50) 

Again the moral powers can never cease to be 
ameliorated or corrupted ; neither good nor evil have 
any bounds. 

Our affections may always become more lively or 
be effaced ; a man can always love others more or 
himself, always be more self-interested or disinterested, 
prefer others or prefer himself. 

Our sensitiveness can always render the position, the 
destiny, either better or worse. 

Finally, religiousness may always either strengthen and 
increase the natural preponderance which belongs to it, 
or suffer its efficiency to be more and more impaired 
or even extinguished ; the religious bond between God 
and man may be always either tightened or relaxed. 

What a distance is there from him to whom the 
question was addressed; Cain, where is Abel thy brother? 
from him of whom it was said, It had been better for him 
he had never been born, .... to Moses who talked with 
God as a man with his friend, and to Paul who longed 
to depart and to be with Christ. But even in these 
examples there is neither the last term of a possible 
rupture between the Creator and the creature, nor the 
most intimate union. 

It is inevitable, it is necessary, that these alternatives 
should be indefinite, unlimited, without a measure 
capable of calculation, without a term which can be 
discovered, without a barrier which can be reached, 
because they terminate in the infinite ; they tend and 
struggle thitherward ; they are incessantly led back 
thither. 

God is an infinite being ; he possesses knowledge, 
holiness, love, infinite happiness ; his creatures may in 

c 4 



32 OF THE WILL AND OF PROGRESS. 

their knowledge continually approximate to his, in their 
holiness to his holiness, in their love to that which he feels, 
and in their happiness to that which he enjoys, without 
ever attaining unto them. For to whatever point of 
exaltation creatures may reach in their progress towards 
God, there still remains more to accomplish .... 
after Sinai, Calvary ; after Calvary, Mount Tabor ; 
after Mount Tabor, the heavens ; and St. Paul was bent 
to reckon them ! 

And as faculties have the same power of action, 
whatever alternative they take, it follows that the evil 
paths are as long, as indeterminate, as immeasurable 
as the good ; it follows that creatures may for ever 
more and more depart from God. 

This double possibility is involved in the principle : 
the abuse may be equal to the use. 

As we have already said, God, in creating, had no 
model except himself, and the whole of these last con- 
siderations individualise and personify, so to speak, the 
simple idea, that to approximate God is to resemble 
him ; to retire from him is to resemble him less. It is 
evident that resemblance and non-resemblance may go 
on always increasing. 

This indefinitely increasing assimilation of the crea- 
tures to the Creator, this perpetual approximation to 
the infinite, this certainty of always drawing nearer 
without ever reaching the end, this inexhaustible deve- 
lopment of knowledge, of holiness, of love, of happiness, 
and, in short, of religion, constitutes and sums up the 
end of creation, already recognised. This end, then, 
is progress in the most elevated sense of that word, 
which here expresses the legitimate direction of created 
powers. (51) 

We always think of continual approximation, and 



OF THE WILL AND OF PROGRESS. 33 

not of absorption. The consciousness of individuality 
excludes all possibility of absorption in God. An 
individual remains an individual. God is one ; man is 
one, and the Creator, in consequence, can no more 
absorb his creatures, than the creature be absorbed in 
him. (52) 

Our system, therefore, has nothing more pantheistic 
in its end than in its beginning. 

It is only the false gods who devour their children ; 
and pantheism, in spite of all that can be said, makes 
God an immense Saturn. 

Progress, or increasing assimilation of the creature 
and the Creator, recognised as the end of creation, ex- 
plains (as has been seen) the necessity of free will, and 
justifies God in having permitted moral evil, or, in 
other words, rendered it possible. Evil exists, and can 
have no other author but God or man. (53) It was 
necessary that evil might be preferred ; this was a con- 
dition of creation, since the end of existence is progress, 
and progress without freedom, that is to say, the pos- 
sibility of drawing nearer to the infinite without the 
equivalent possibility of withdrawing from him, implies 
a contradiction. To reproach God with the possibility 
of evil, or, in other words, the gift of free will, is to 
reproach him with creation ; for moral evil is nothing 
else than the accomplishment of the end of creation, 
and the end of creation required the possibility of evil. 

Thus the Gospel always points to this moral evil as 
something profoundly subjective, personal, inherent in 
the creature, as soon as the creature subverts the divine 
purpose of his existence. (54) 



c 5 



34 UNIVERSALITY OF PROGRESS. 

CHAP. XIV. 

UNIVERSALITY OF PROGRESS. 

The principles which have been just laid down, and the 
facts which have been recognised, are universal : that is 
to say, they do not merely concern the earth on which 
we dwell and the race of man ; they concern all God's 
creatures ; they are so vast and luminous, that they fill 
the whole universe, enlightening it with their light. 

The relation of the Creator and of the creature is 
invariable, — the same always, in all worlds ; it is evident 
that God has no other model than himself for all crea- 
tures endowed with freedom. 

Free will is the same in all worlds ; in the case of 
every creature it is nothing but the power of employing 
his faculties and directing his tendencies. 

Truth, the object of the intellectual powers, is the 
same in all worlds ; it is what God thinks ; what occu- 
pies his thoughts ought to occupy those of his creatures, 
according to the reach of their intelligence. 

Holiness, the object of the moral powers, is the same 
in all worlds ; it is what God wills ; what satisfies his 
will ought to satisfy that of his creatures, according to 
the proportion of their morality. 

Love is everywhere the same ; it consists always in 
the harmony of natures, and the interest taken in the 
well-being of others. 

Happiness is everywhere the same ; it is always in- 
terest well understood ; the legitimate development of 
our powers, the regular and normal accomplishment of 
our destiny. 

Religion is everywhere the same ; since God, the 
object of religion, is the same in reference to all his 









OF THE PHASES OF PROGRESS. 35 

creatures ; since all necessarily tend towards the infinite 
Being, who is one and immutable. 

As God has only one model, himself, for all crea- 
tion, so he has but one end — the approximation to- 
wards himself. All creatures are to tread the same 
path of imitation. Imitation of God is the universal 
duty ; progress towards God is the only progress. {55) 



CHAP. XV. 

OF THE PHASES OF PROGRESS, 

Between God, the infinite Being, the only model of 
his creatures and the finite beings who imitate him, the 
degrees of difference are indefinite. At all possible 
distances from God, there may be creatures engaged in 
approximating the Creator. (56) Each will have his 
measure of progress to accomplish, according to the 
conditions of his present existence. 

These different degrees of resemblance to God, these 
varied measures of approximation to be effected in a 
given world, and in a given time, will constitute the 
phases of progress (57) to be passed through by every 
creature. 

The foot of Jacob's ladder is not only on this earth, 
it is everywhere ; it is the top of the ladder which 
touches a single point alone, and that point is the 
throne of God himself. (58) 

One of the most touching consequences of this system 
here naturally presents itself; these successive stages, 
these differences of the phases of progress, will not 
affect the measure of enjoyment, and will not alter 
happiness. If, in any phase of progress whatsoever, 
the employment of the powers is conformable to the 

c 6 



36 OF THE PHASES OF PROGRESS. 

universal law of progress towards God, as all the ten- 
dencies are satisfied, the tendency to happiness is satis- 
fied like the rest. 

If it be asked why all creatures have not been placed 
in the same conditions of existence and the same phase 
of progress, the reply is everywhere obvious in the 
world around us, and the law of progress explains the 
variety in creation : if all the individuals among man- 
kind were like, if a monotonous identity brought all 
down to a common level, the progress of humanity would 
be stopped ; a general similitude would cause a general 
torpor ; there would be neither masters nor learners, 
and apathy would usurp the place of activity. A system 
of inequality, of variety, was necessary, and to such a 
degree that men do not resemble one another even in 
sleeping. 

The same observation applies to the two sexes. It 
may be truly said, that the master-piece of nature was 
the formation of two beings so like and yet so different. 
Take away the inequality of the sexes and let nothing 
remain but their physical differences, our world becomes 
impossible. (59) 

Still more : the differences of nature, which exist 
among creatures, are indifferent to God, because the 
distance between the creature and the Creator is always 
as finite to infinity. The imperceptible insect is thus 
as near to God, in God's view, as man or an archangel. 
The inequality of creatures, which does not exist for 
God, which is not sensible to God and affects him in 
no respect, has only been established for themselves ; 
whence it follows that this inequality was necessary to 
progress, and that the law of inequality is universal. 

In fact, what is true, in this point, respecting this 
world of ours, must be true of the universe, since the 



OP THE PHASES OF PROGRESS. 37 

object of creation is everywhere the same. As dif- 
ference among men is necessary to human progress, 
difference among classes of creatures and of phases of 
progress is necessary to universal progress.. 

It was necessary (to use the poetical language of 
St. Paul) that "one star should differ from another star 
in glory." (60) 

The question of the sole existence of humanity 
might be thus rationally solved. What appearance is 
there to indicate that God and man are alone in the 
universe ? and, without consulting the scientific analogies 
of astronomy, or the instinctive analogies of sentiment 
(all which have their value in the question), it seems 
necessary that man, in this great road of progress 
towards the infinite, should precede creatures less gifted 
and follow creatures more eminent than himself j he 
knows subjectively that he is far from the first and 
from the last degree, he knows that he is of more value 
than many sparrows, and crowned with honour and glory ; 
but he perceives glittering in the distance crowns much 
more brilliant than his own. 

Those crowns, it is true, he sees only confusedly, and 
the existence of superior beings is, in the eye of reason, 
only a verisimilitude, a conjecture eminently plausible, 
but destitute of positive subjective proofs. We as yet 
know nothing of heaven from experience ; we are 
acquainted with the life of this world only. Singular 
fact ! we are of ourselves much more certain of the 
existence of God than of that of angels. In order to 
believe in God, it is sufficient to read in our souls ; to 
believe with certainty in angels, we must read else- 
where. 






38 IMMORTALITY AND SPIRITUALISM. 



CHAP. XVI. 

IMMORTALITY AND SPIRITUALISM. 

The certainty of immortality, whether this immortality 
leads us to other brethren, to other fellow-citizens, or 
not, is acquired by contemplation of and acquaintance 
with ourselves, for progress towards the infinite is 
necessarily immortal ; in order to proceed upon an endless 
path, we must exist and proceed for ever. 

The question is, an immortality with identity ; for 
not to continue to be one's self, is to cease to be. 

As far as regards the Creator, an immortality without 
identity would be a destruction; then, a new creation. 

And with respect to the creature an annihilation ; 
annihilation, and nothing more : to be replaced is not 
to continue to exist ; to give me a successor is to cut 
me off; by giving place I lose my own. 

At this crisis the feeling of individuality awakes 
with all its powers and promises us, that as life is 
individual, immortality shall be so also. It is I who 
am, and I who shall be. 

The powers and tendencies of our souls remain the 
same, whether they are developed in the present or 
prejudged in the future ; they reckon upon themselves ; 
during the progress of to-day, they promise themselves 
that of to-morrow ; the one gives assurance of the 
identity of the other ; this is as true of the last day of 
life as of the present. In other words, we feel that 
our tendencies cannot change ; they are in so far gua- 
rantees of identity. (6 1 ) 

The problem of materialism and spiritualism, very 
different from that of immortality, is placed amongst 






EXISTENCE AND NATURE OF ANIMALS. 89 

the questions of mere curiosity, as soon as immortality, 
existence, and progress as an end are admitted. The 
question is no longer concerning the active principle 
itself, but the organisations of the activity ; and whether 
this immortal active principle resides in a spirit in 
possession of a material clothing, or in an apparel of 
matter, continually perfectible, the result is identical. 
In other words, materialism does not rise to the rank 
of a problem in which religion is implicated, even if it 
denies the soul, but only when it denies a future life. 
If it admits a future life, it is then only a false explana- 
tion of the phenomena of human individuality. The 
existence of a spiritual element in man is the only 
means of properly explaining the inward operations of 
his mind, and alone accords with the simplicity of 
self. (62) 

The question of spiritualism and materialism, indif- 
ferent in relation to man, is equally so in reference to 
all the other creatures of God. It is of no importance 
whatever to our theology to know whether angels have 
bodies or animals have souls. 



CHAP. XVII. 

EXISTENCE AND NATURE OF ANIMALS. 

The concluding remarks of the last chapter lead us to 
examine the question of the existence of animals — a 
question whose omission would leave these theories 
incomplete, and which faith has too much abandoned 
to science. 

Remove animals from the face of the earth, the 
situation of mankind would be changed to a degree 
difficult to represent, and progress must be effected 



40 EXISTENCE AND NATURE OF ANIMALS; 



under very different conditions. The existence of an 
animal kingdom is necessary to the existence of man 
kind. 

Animals are the companions of the journey which 
God has appointed us to make in our present phase of 
progress ; and this characteristic of our situation, — this 
simultaneous existence of animals and man, — the 
intimate relation of nature established between us and 
those beings which are beneath us in grade, — reveals 
one of the holiest and most beautiful among the laws 
of the universe : it is a proof of the fact, that, in 
the plans of creation and the departments of the 
universe, the destinies of two orders of creatures very 
different from each other may be thus closely con- 
nected and reciprocally dependent on each other. 

The parity of lot between men and animals is so far 
exact that being born and dying are, for both, phe- 
nomena of the same kind. 

The union still further appears from the senses in 
men and animals being the same : animals have always 
one sense, at least touch. 

The nature of animals partly falls within the category 
in which we ourselves are placed. 

Of the faculties and tendencies of mankind, animals 
do not possess either morality or religiousness, as far 
as we can judge from the facts already established, and 
which appear conclusive. 

They possess, up to a certain point, and in very 
unequal degrees, the intellectual powers, the sense of 
enjoyment and affections. (64) 

Moreover they possess a peculiar faculty, instinct ; a 
power very different from intelligence, and which only 
exhibits itself in man at the moment of his entrance 
upon life, and does not deserve to be reckoned among 



: 



EXISTENCE AND NATURE OF ANIMALS. 41 

human faculties. The very complicated operation by 
which the new-born infant draws sustenance from the 
mother's breast is with it an instinctive operation. 

Instinct is recognised by two signs — the absence of 
all attempt at change, and of all calculation of utility. 
Its. repetitions are constantly faithful : the dens of wild 
beasts, the nests of birds, the honeycomb of the bee, 
the chrysalis of butterflies, the nymphae of insects, and 
the webs of spiders, all these productions of animal 
instinct have remained the same since the creation. 
The law of necessity is always blind : in a full granary 
ants may be seen dragging along grains, and beavers 
build their dikes even where there is no water. 

The intellect of animals enables them to combine 
ideas, like that of man ; but it is not accompanied by a 
consciousness of self. The animal draws no conclusion 
from the case of its fellow respecting its own ; conse- 
quently it does not possess the notion of time as we 
do : it does not foresee ; and this is, doubtless, a wise 
provision of the Creator adopted to temper and ame- 
liorate the sufferings of animals. 

The power of the affections among animals is very 
strong, but of short duration; among them family 
attachments and the cares of parentage last only for a 
brief period, and cease with their necessity. (65) It is 
a singular fact that animals only attach themselves with 
fidelity to their superior, man. 

Sensitiveness among animals is continuous, but often 
blind : it is evident that it is condemned to this infe- 
riority by the inferiority of intelligence ; in the animal 
it is less dependent upon intelligence than upon in- 
stinct. 

These powers among animals are not in the present 
state perfectible ; as they are destitute of consciousness 



42 EXISTENCE AND NATURE OF ADIMALS. 

of self, they cannot perfect themselves ; ignorant of their 
own individuality, they do not ameliorate it : their pre- 
sent existence is not a phase of progress. 

There is, therefore, within our knowledge, two 
modes of being for the creatures of God, — the one 
progressive, the other stationary, in which their powers 
or tendencies, whatever they are, never rise above a 
determinate level, which is common to them all. In 
this condition all progress is contrary to nature, forced 
and factitious; whence it follows that all pretended 
progress remains individual, and does not profit the 
species. 

Learned animals never rendered others of their 
species wiser. 

This stationary condition can only exist where one 
species of beings has been placed at the service of an- 
other which belongs to a progressive state ; the solitary 
existence of a race of beings whose generations should 
eternally succeed each other without progress, in order 
to be lost in annihilation, would be a creation unworthy 
of God. 

This common existence, this joint habitation of the 
same world, supposes a complete empire of one class 
of beings over another, an empire divinely established 
and authorised (66) : without a divine sanction such a 
dominion would be unlawful ; and, moreover, it sup- 
poses an immense pre-eminence on the part of the class 
of superior beings. (67) 

It is a remarkable consequence of this dominion, and 
of this superiority, that the world, which serves as a 
country for two classes of beings, belongs to the more 
exalted, whose absence alone would deliver it over to 
the inferior creatures. (68) 

The destinies of the two classes being thus allied, 



EXISTENCE AND NATURE OF ANIMALS. 43 

the fate of the* superior class must always determine, 
and bear with it that of the inferior. Simultaneousness 
of existence in the same world necessarily involves simi- 
larity of destiny ; it is in this very thing that the union 
exists. This observation explains the sufferings of 
animals in the present existence. Man, in this phase 
of progress, suffers (and we shall have to explain these 
sufferings, see Book II. Chap, xxi.) ; and it was inevi- 
table that animals should suffer with him, and often by 
the very same means of pain. Leaving out of view those 
useless barbarities which negligence or wickedness in- 
flicts upon them, how are those natural sufferings 
imposed by the Creator to be explained, without ad- 
mitting that their lot is bound up with ours, and that 
they form a part of the scheme of existence of which 
man is at the head ? If there is a God, not a sensitive 
being in the whole immensity of creation can suffer 
without these sufferings being explained and justified. 
God would not have created if suffering were the inevi- 
table condition of creation. 

Here the objection immediately presents itself, that 
animals preceded man upon the earth ; that animals 
existed there before him, and that he is but a recent 
inhabitant of the present globe. (69) Science has 
placed this fact beyond dispute ; it has proved that 
before the existence of man there had already been 
sufferings amongst the animals which peopled the earth, 
whether they were similar or not to those which now 
exist ; and it has proved that in these primitive times 
animals devoured one another, as they do now. 

The objection appears so grave, that undoubtedly 
this difficulty has served to gain favour for the dreams 
of those ingenious minds, which have regarded animals 
as wicked and fallen beings, degraded from their rank 



44 EXISTENCE AND NATURE OF ANIMALS. 

in creation, cast into and detained in this inferior con- 
dition, as in a state of expiation and chastisement. 

It may be answered, that as we know not when our 
phase of progress will terminate, we know no better 
when it really commenced ; that the union and connec- 
tion between animals and man was established even 
from before the existence of man ; and, in fact, this 
merely amounts to saying that the servants preceded the 
master in their common dwelling-place. 

Still more, the physical sciences in their actual pro- 
gress begin to open up and explain the providential 
truth, that the geological periods, the successive orga- 
nisations of our planet before the creation of the human 
species, have from of old been preparatory to the present 
condition of the globe, the productions which clothe 
its surface, and the atmosphere by which it is sin> 
rounded. Pre-adamite organisations, animals of all 
kinds, whose fossil remains are deposited and scattered 
in prodigious masses at different depths in the bosom 
of the earth, constitute an essential part of this prepara- 
tion, and the phenomena of their existence have served 
from of old to render possible in this world the more ex- 
alted phenomena of human life. Above all, let us never 
forget, that these notions of before and after (see Book 
II. Chap, xix.) are always without value and without 
application when we speak of God, the infinite Being ; 
and that consequently, in the divine mind, the phe- 
nomena of geological periods are as intimately con- 
nected with the destiny of the human species as those 
of the present order of things. If it is evident that 
when two classes of beings of unequal rank in creation 
co-exist and dwell together in the same world, and 
under like conditions of life and death, the fate of the 
superior class necessarily carries with it that of the in- 



EXISTENCE AND NATURE OF ANIMALS. 45 

ferior ; if the sovereignty of man and the dependence 
of animals are but aspects of this combined state of 
existence ; if, finally, this community of life, world, 
and fate, has caused sufferings, it is impossible that 
compensation should not be reserved for and in another 
phase of progress. To deny this is a complete nega- 
tion of the idea of God ; for suffering of all kinds is 
repugnant to God. (70) 

It might at first be supposed that the absence of the 
notion of individuality, the absence of the knowledge of 
self, is opposed to this reasonable expectation. But what 
do we know of the resources of existence in general to 
lead us to suppose, that the Creator has not prepared 
powers, at present latent, which, in due time, will be de- 
veloped in a retro-active sense, so to speak, and in some 
measure re-make the past, in order to compensate its suf- 
ferings ? There are undoubtedly other resources in crea- 
tion than those which are in operation, for the develop- 
ment and compensation of mankind. And let us never 
forget, also, that the objection rests upon the notion of 
time and its misapprehension. Finally, in human nature 
itself, we have continually before our eyes examples of 
individualities unknown to themselves, and which are 
to be preserved and become recognisable. Every case 
of death immediately after birth, or during the course 
of early infancy, is a proof that individuality may be 
reserved ; every case of death, after a return to infancy 
by the decay of a protracted old age, proves it better 
still ; it is beyond doubt, that the old man after death 
finds himself again. 

The system of the philosophy of religion explained 
in these remarks upon the animal kingdom has no 
regard to forms, to dimensions, to conditions of ex- 
istence. That philosophy alone, which is the dupe of 



46 CONTINUITY OF ACTIVITY. 

appearances, can persuade itself that what we call 
deformity, ugliness, physical irregularities, are signs either 
of elevation or inferiority in the scale of beings. The life 
of a mollusk, a pulp, a polypus, or a worm, that of insects 
or the infusoria, may conceal for the present and the 
future treasures both of enjoyment and progress, whose 
present means and future germ altogether escape us. 

Both the microscope and the telescope are instruments 
of which our philosophy has no need ; its optics in 
both senses reach much further. 



CHAP. XVIII. 

CONTINUITY OF ACTIVITY. 

The notion of the phases of progress remains then as 
the key of the mysteries of creation ; the universe 
appears arranged, as it were, by gradations ; each class 
of beings occupies its own and occupies it but for a 
time. The powers or tendencies are merely the means 
of progress granted for the special phase in which they 
are displayed. 

Infinite existence is employed only with perfection. 

Finite existence is employed in perfecting. 

The faculties and tendencies, as a whole, constitute 
the active principle of beings. 

Activity is continuous ; it would not deserve the name 
were it not so. 

The Creator acts continually (71) ; the creature made 
after his image, in like manner, acts always ; the in- 
finite alone presents a path on which there is never 
reason to halt. 

Repose is no more possible amongst progressive 
creatures than immobility in inanimate creatures. 






CONTINUITY OF ACTIVITY. 47 

Beings made for progress are always on the march, as 
inanimate existences are always in movement. 

Man thinks always ; the nature of good and evil is 
always before him, and is manifested in all his con- 
duct ; man loves always ; man is always loving himself ; 
and his religiousness, his tendency towards God, is so 
inextinguishable, so continuous, that superstition always 
comes to take the place of religion when absent. 
Infidels are ordinarily superstitious. 
In man, activity is so intense and so continuous, 
that sleep (a phenomenon of our nature too little 
studied, a presage of our future destiny too little com- 
prehended, which we shall presently examine more 
closely) — sleep, we observe, is not an interruption and 
does not relax the springs of thought. All our powers 
are in action during this needful repose. In a word, 
man, when asleep, by no means abdicates his functions. 
It may happen that one or several of the human 
tendencies may keep down and reduce the others to a 
more or less complete state of stagnation. 

This power of absorbing the other tendencies espe- 
cially belongs to the intellectual, sensitive, and religious 
faculties. 

There are mathematicians, who, in passing through 

the world, scarcely think of anything but mathematics. 

There are egotists, who, during their whole lives, 

have elbowed their fellow-men, without ever thinking 

of any but themselves. 

There are mystical minds, which are, as it were, 
absorbed in God. 

This partial stagnation, however, this anomalous 
predominance of tendencies, which proves that they are 
distinct and independent, never suspends activity ; in 
one sense it excites and redoubles it, because once 



48 CONTINUITY OF ACTIVITY. 

become almost exclusive, it absorbs into itself all their 
energy, and gains in proportion as the subdued or 
extinguished faculties lose. 

It is because human activity is continuous, that 
human desires are insatiable, and that satiety is only 
a modification of desire, a change of direction in 
activity. (72) 

Activity, like the tendencies of which it constitutes 
the ensemble, can evidently follow two directions only 
■ — that which approximates to, and that which retires 
from God, the infinite Being, that which augments and 
that which diminishes the resemblance of the creature 
to the Creator. Whence it follows, activity being con- 
tinuous, that all creatures, each in its phase of progress, 
are perpetually moving onward towards God, or with- 
drawing from him ; an immense retinue, which stretches 
through all worlds, and extends through all ages, whose 
stations are the stars, which has but one end, as the 
limit of its career — the infinite. 



NOTES TO BOOK I. 



(1.) The intimate knowledge which every man has of himself 
is expressed by St. Paul in the following words : " For what 
man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which 
is in him ?" 1 Cor. ii. 11. 

(2.) " Which of you, by taking thought, can add one moment 
to his life ? " Matt. vi. 27 ; Luke xii. 25. This is the true 
sense of the passage rendered in the common version, " Which 
of you can add one cubit unto his stature ? " The word used in 
the original signifies sometimes stature, Luke xix. 3., sometimes 
life, or age. Luke, ii. 52; John ix. 21. The true signification 
is, however, plainly indicated by the connection of ideas in this 
part of the discourse. Jesus speaks of the prolongation and sus- 
tenance of life, a common subject of human anxiety, and not of 
height or diminutiveness of stature. He wishes to demonstrate 
that man is dependent on God even in the smallest things. " If 
ye then be not able to do that thing which is least, why take ye 
thought for the rest ? " Luke, xii. 26. In comparison with the 
duration of life, an hour, a moment is but a small thing ; in 
comparison with a man's stature, a cubit more or less would be 
a great thing ; so that the ordinary version is in direct opposition 
to Christ's idea. The word translated cubit also signifies any 
short measure, in the same sense as the expression of the psalmist 
" Behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreath ;" that is, 
thou abridgest them. Psalm xxxix. 5. 

(3.) The study of creation begins with mankind ; it has been 
well said, that a truth stated is a truth known, and that in order to 
state it well, we must first know it well ; thus, the Lord brought 
the animals of the earth unto Adam, to see (or examine) what 
he would call them, Gen. ii. 19 ; and, as reason cannot remain 
inactive, it is so ordered that the field of study opened to it should 
be exhaustless, boundless, infinite ; it furnishes the prophet with 
an image of endless duration : " If heaven above can be measured, 
and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also 

D 



50 NOTES TO BOOK I. 

cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done, saith 
the Lord." Jer. xxxi. 37. 

(4.) In principle and in fact, St. Paul positively recognises 
in man a power, a moral tendency, distinct from all positive law, 
from all written revelation : " For when the gentiles, which have 
not the law (that is, the revealed law, the Mosaic law), do hy 
nature the things contained in the law ; these, having not the law, 
are a law unto themselves : which shew the work of the law 
written in their hearts, their conscience also hearing witness, and 
their thoughts the mean while accusing, or else excusing one 
another." Rom. ii. 14, 15. This passage expresses the principle ; 
the following the fact : " For until the law (of Moses) sin was 
in the world ; but sin is not imputed when there is no law." 
Rom. v. 13. The apostle, in these memorable words, clearly 
establishes both the distinction and the harmony between the 
natural law of conscience, that of all men, and the positive law 
of revelation, that of the Israelites, and afterwards of Christians. 
All that the Scripture teaches with regard to the moral power 
of the human mind, or conscience, is in accordance with the 
experience of mankind. Notwithstanding the state of sin, this 
power exists ; under its influence man can say, " For I delight 
in the law of God after the inward man." Rom. vii. 22. It 
applies to every act of every individual ; thus, " whatsoever is 
not of faith (that is to say, of the private moral persuasion) is 
sin ; " Rom. xiv. 23 : in other words, no man has a right to act 
against his moral conviction. His power needs exercise, dis- 
cipline, and cultivation : the mind (of man) gets accustomed 
by constant exercise to discern both good and evil. " Those who 
by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good 
and evil;" Heb. v. 14; and in the lucidity of its inevitable judg- 
ments, the human conscience approaches even the omniscience of 
God, from whom it emanates : " the spirit (moral sense) of man 
is the candle of the Lord, searching the inward parts of the belly" 
(sounding the depths of the heart). Prov. xx. 27. Man feels 
that he is created for moral perfection, at whatever distance from 
it he may be placed ; the least evil is still an evil in his eyes ; 
we have no terms to keep, no compromise to make with evil ; 
" therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh (that is, 
to our evil passions) to live after the flesh." Rom. viii. 12. 

(5.) The Gospel recognises man as a loving being, by reducing 
the whole law to this one principle, love. The commandments 
are, according to St. Paul, "briefly comprehended in this saying, 
namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." Rom. xiii. 9. 

Family and filial affections and obligations are also considered 



NOTES TO BOOK I. 51 

in the Gospel as natural feelings and duties. Christ draws from 
them an argument to illustrate the confidence with which men 
ought to give themselves up to the care of Providence. " If a 
son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give 
him a stone ? or, if he ask a fish, will he, for a fish, give him a 
serpent ? or, if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion ? 
If ye then, being evil, know how to (preserve these affections and) 
give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your 
heavenly Father give good things to them that ask him ? Matt, 
vii. 9 — 11 ; Luke, xi. 11 — 13. The whole train of reasoning 
rests on what is natural in these tender feelings and duties. St. 
Paul declares that " if any provide not for his own, and specially 
for those of his own house, he is worse than an infidel." 1 Tim. 
v. 8 ; and, according to the same apostle, one of the blackest 
traits of iniquity in the pagan manners which he depicts, Rom. 
i. 31, and of the corruption of the Christian virtues which he 
foretells, 2 Tim. iii. 3, is that men stifle the affections, or natural 
tender feelings. 

(6.) Family affections, those innate feelings of the human 
heart, are so legitimate and natural in their expansive ardour, 
that in the Old Testament they are employed to represent the 
relation between the Creator and his creatures. The Psalmist 
compares the love of God to that of a father : " Like as a father 
pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him/' 
Psalm ciii. 13. 

(7.) It is extremely remarkable that the Gospel sanctions the 
legitimate and natural egotism which impels every man to desire 
and seek his own welfare, in giving it as the standard of the love 
due to one's neighbour : " Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy- 
self." Matt. xxii. 3g. " No man," says St. Paul, " ever yet hated 
his own flesh," Eph. v. 29 J that is, no man ever hates himself. 

(8.) " God is light," says St. John, 1 John, i. 5 — 7; that is 
to say, perfection, which is the signification of this term, often 
employed in this sense by the Greek writers. There is nothing 
more beautiful than light, nothing more mysterious, nothing more 
necessary, nothing more universally extended; and, from these 
combined considerations, antiquity, whose very imperfect science 
had not even touched upon the physical study of light, drew, by 
a tacit induction the synonym of the words light and perfection : 
Ci but if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fel- 
lowship one with another." In the apostle's idea, this communion 
between God and man is therefore based, on the one hand on the 
human faculties, on the other on the Supreme attributes. 

" God has set infinity in their hearts," (the hearts of men,) 
d 2 



52 NOTES TO BOOK I. 

Ecc. iii. 11. ; literally, God has set eternity in their hearts. This 
passage, disputed and variously translated, appears, however, ac- 
cording to the most accredited criticisms, to have the following 
signification : he has given to men, as the subject of their thoughts, 
eternity, immensity, infinity. The original, which has in the 
common version been restricted to the sense of world, according 
to which we should be obliged to translate the passage thus : 
God has put the anxieties of the world into their hearts, is not 
to be met with in this sense in the other sacred books. The 
connection of ideas evidently favours the interpretation above 
adopted. 

(9.) The independence of our natural tendencies in reference 
to our will, which is powerless to extirpate them, explains the 
force of habit, in the sense that our habits, good or evil, are only 
the development of certain of our tendencies in a continuous 
direction. The common expression, that habit is a second nature, 
is perfectly correct. The Scripture, in its figurative language, 
compares the confirmed habit of impiety and iniquity to the ex- 
terior properties of the body, which the will cannot change. 
Jeremiah said to Coniah, and to the queen, his mother, " Can 
the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots ? " Jer. 
xiii. ] 8 — 23 ; thus prophesying the obstinacy of their impeni- 
tence. 

(10.) Revelation, which, contains not a single word of discus, 
sion on the subject of moral liberty, everywhere addresses itself 
to man, under both covenants, as to a free being. " See," said 
Moses to Israel, " I call heaven and earth to record this day 
against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing 
and cursing ; therefore choose life !" Deut. xxx. 15 — 19. " Thus 
saith the Lord, Behold, I set before you the way of life, and the 
way of death." Jer. xxi. 8. " Return unto me, and I will return 
unto you, saith the Lord of hosts,'' by the voice of Malachi. Mai. 
iii. 7- " This do, and thou shalt live," were the words of Christ 
to the doctor of the law. (See Book I. Chap. xi. note 45 ; Book 
III. Chap. xxx. note 10; Book IV. Chap. xlv. note 23; and 
Chap. xlix. note 59-) 

(11.) The Gospel explicitly admits the innate distinction of the 
tendencies of man, when Christ teaches that the religious ten- 
dency, even when raised to its greatest power, abounding in 
prayers, in preachings, and even in miracles, does not always 
sanctify the heart : " Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, 
Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven ; but he that doeth 
the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me 
in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name ? 



NOTES TO BOOK I. 53 

and in thy name have cast out devils ? and in thy name done 
many wonderful works ? And then will I profess unto them, I 
never knew you : depart from me, ye that work iniquity." Matt, 
vii. 21 — 23. These sentences have no signification, if the human 
powers, and especially the moral and the religious powers, are not 
distinct from one another. There is no contradiction between 
these words and the reply of Christ to his apostles : « there is no 
man which shall do a miracle in my name, that can (at the same 
time) lightly speak evil of me." Mark, ix. 3Q. The strength of 
the thought is here in the words if at the same time," and who, 
indeed, could unite in the same moment a miracle and a blas- 
phemy ? St. Paul also declares the intellectual and religious 
powers to be entirely separate from charity, which embraces the 
moral power and that of the affections : " Though I speak with 
the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am 
become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I 
have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all 
knowledge ; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove 
mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing." 1 Cor. xiii. 1, 2. 
The same apostle declares that men, by their " ungodliness and 
unrighteousness (may) hold the truth in unrighteousness (hold the 
truth captive)." Rom. i. 18. The truth of which he speaks is 
religious truth, not only that of revealed religion, but that of 
natural religion ; and his meaning is that, by corrupting the moral 
sense, men afterwards go on to corrupt the religious sense. " Satan 
himself," he says again, " is transformed into (disguises himself 
as) an angel of light," 2 Cor. xi. 14; an admirable poetic image 
to express the idea that, seduced reason may seduce morality, and 
cause it to take good for evil and evil for good. Again, " Every 
one that doeth evil hateth the light." John, iii. 20. 

(12.) Knowledge is but the discovery, the possession of truth, 
and our definition of truth is justified by the nature of the know- 
ledge promised to our intelligence in another life : " Then shall 
I know," says St. Paul, iC even as also I am known ;" that is to 
say, thoroughly. 1 Cor. xiii. 12. We must here remark, 1st, 
that St. Paul does not speak with reference to himself alone. He 
has just said, " Now we see as through a glass, darkly ;" and, by a 
lively change of phrase, familiar to his style, and of which this 
same epistle affords examples, 1 Cor. vi. 12; x. 29, 30, he sud- 
denly passes to the first person, and says, %< I shall know," which 
is equivalent to we shall know. 2dly, that, the force of the idea 
expressed in this sentence rests on the point of comparison, on the 
sense of the preposition as. It is evident that, of the two principal 
significations of this word in the Greek of the New Testament, 

D 3 



54 NOTES TO BOOK I. 

viz. as much as, and in the same manner as, the last-mentioned 
alone can be the one in which it is employed in this passage. 
The glorious hope which the apostle expresses is, therefore, that 
the knowledge of immortality will embrace, not the appearances, 
phenomena, and outward manifestations of the divine laws and 
creations, but their truth and reality. 

(13.) " Sin is the transgression of the law." 1 John, iii. 4 ; 
(t where no law is, there is no transgression." Rom. iv. 15. Thus 
man is never without a law, w T hen he does not receive one from 
God he makes one to himself; in other words, if God has not 
revealed himself, man strives to reveal him to himself, seeking 
him in the instincts of his conscience, and his conscience becomes 
his law. The whole history of the world proves what difficulty 
man finds in discovering, by his own unassisted powers, the true 
law of his progress, genuine morality, real justice and goodness. 
The reason of this difficulty is, that the mission of conscience is 
much more to apply itself to the law which it finds in force, 
than to discover and give this law ; thus, it often applies it 
without first forming a judgment on it ; man often does evil 
conscientiously. (See note 4.) 

(14.) " But I see another law in my members (that is, in my 

passions, always represented in the Gospel by the body, the flesh, 

the members,) warring against the law of my mind, and bringing 

' me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members." 

Rom. vii. 23. 

(15.) St. Paul teaches that the obligation of brotherly love 
among men is a debt from which we are never absolved or ac- 
quitted, " Owe no man any thing, but to love one another." 
Rom. xiii. 8. 

(16.) Anchorites are monsters, in as much as they adopt a mode 
of life opposed to nature ; and it is to be remarked that, according 
to St. Paul, the corruption and impiety of the times do not 
justify a solitary life: " I wrote to you in an epistle not to 
company with fornicators ; yet not altogether (to break all inter- 
course) with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous 
or extortioners, or with idolaters ; for then must ye needs go out 
of the world." 1 Cor. v. 9, 1 0. 

(17.) The Gospel, without ever arguing the question, is 
everywhere opposed to pure idealism, and constantly admits the 
real existence of the sensible world. " Did not he that made 
that which is without (our bodies), make that which is within 
also ? " (the soul, the spiritual world.) Luke xi., 40. Some 
interpreters, resting on the facts that the word make is some- 
times, although rarely, taken in the sense of purify, and that 



NOTES TO BOOK I. 55 

St. Matthew, in the parallel passage, xxiii. 26. indicates by the 
word outside, the exterior of the cup, the only part which the 
Pharisees cleansed, understand this verse in a sense which appears 
to me inadmissible : should not he who has purified the exterior, 
also purify the interior? This signification, which is in no way 
suggested by the connection of ideas, and which presents a useless 
repetition of what goes before and what follows, is at variance 
with Christ's manner of teaching ; he most frequently left the 
moral consequence to be drawn by his hearers, without deducing 
it himself. In the whole of this discourse his object is to re- 
mind the Pharisees that their hypocrisy was known and judged,^ 
and could deceive men only. The idea then arises naturally : 
God, who has made the exterior, has also made the interior, the 
soul, the heart, and your mere appearance of virtue will not 
deceive him. 

(18.) It is said that "that which may be known of God is mani- 
fest in them (to them), for God hath shewed it unto them. For 
the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly 
seen, being understood by the things that are made." This 
assertion proves that the contemplation of nature is one of the 
excitements, one of the means of the culture and development of 
the religious tendency. If nothing material exists, if nature be 
but an appearance, whence comes the exciting cause ? if it be 
purely intuitive and inward, then nature is an immense snare 
spread for us by God, and to heighten the mockery, a useless 
snare. The advocates of pure idealism have never answered this 
objection. 

(19.) God said to man : " replenish the earth, and subdue it." 
Gen. i. 28. " Thou madest him to have dominion over the 
works of thy hands ; thou hast put all things under his feet." 
Ps. viii. 6. 

(20.) The Holy Scriptures abound in declarations that the law 
of difference is providential, and will not cease to be divinely 
maintained. This law rests on the principle of the absolute 
independence in which the Creator stands with reference to his 
creatures : " Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker! Let the 
potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth." Isaiah xlv. Q. 
" Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast 
thou made me thus ? Hath not the potter power over the clay, 
of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another 
unto dishonour?" Rom. ix. 20, 21. God replies to Moses: 
e< I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show 
mercy on whom I will show mercy." Ex. xxxiii. 19 j and 
Rom. ix. 15. This law of difference in no respect depends on 

d 4 



56 NOTES TO BOOK I. 

the performance or violation of the duties of life. Job does 
not fear to say, after one of his protestations of innocence : " He 
destroyeth the perfect and the wicked." Job ix. 22. We read 
in Ecclesiastes : ie there is one event to the righteous and to the 
wicked ; to the good, and to the clean, and to the unclean ; to 
him that sacrificeth, and to him that sacrificeth not." Ecc. ix. 2. 
ie For the children being not yet born, neither having done any 
good or evil, that the purpose of God, according to election might 
stand, not of works, but of him that calleth, it was said unto 
her (Rebecca their mother), the elder shall serve the younger." 
Rom. ix. 11, 12. 

From this law no man can demand exemption : " for there is 
no respect of persons with God." Rom. ii. 11. And against 
this law no man has a right to remonstrate or murmur ; the 
master of the vineyard says to all his labourers, whatever may be 
the hour of their labour and the amount of their wages : " Is it 
not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own ? " Matt. xx. 
15. To Peter, whose martyrdom he has just foretold, Christ 
says in reference to John : " If I will that he tarry till I come, 
what is that to thee ? " John xxi. 22. 

(21.) The providential differences between man and man have 
reference to, and are expressed in, everything ; in the organs of 
the body : ls And the Lord said unto him (Moses), Who hath 
made man's mouth ? or who maketh the dumb or deaf, or the 
seeing, or the blind? have not I, the Lord?" Ex. iv. 11. In 
the faculties of the mind : " The hearing ear, and the seeing eye, 
the Lord hath made even both of them." Pro v. xx. 12. The 
faculties of the mind are here spoken of; the ear and the eye, 
hearing and seeing, are expressions which very frequently, in the 
figurative language of the sacred books, indicate the intellectual 
powers ; the sense of the passage therefore is, that the happiness 
of possessing a sound and clear understanding is a boon from the 
Creator : the same expression, the same idea is to be found in the 
Gospel : " But blessed are your eyes, for they see ; and your ears, 
for they hear." Matt. xiii. 16. " But every man hath his proper 
gift of God, one after this manner, and another after that." 
1 Cor. vii. 7- In the condition of bond or free, at all times the 
two extremes of the social order : " Did not he that made me in 
the womb make him who serves me ? and did not one fashion us 
in the womb ? " Job, xxxi. 15. In poverty and riches : " God 
regardeth not the rich more than the poor ; for they are all the 
work of his hands." Job, xxxi v. 19. " The rich and poor meet 
together (that is, live together, members of the same society, of 
the same national and religious family, and) the Lord is the 






NOTES TO BOOK I. 57 

maker of them all" (such as they are). Prov. xxii. 2 ; that is, has 
put this difference between them. In national calamities: "I 
tell you, in that night (the horrors of the night are in Christ's 
prophecies an image of the disastrous epoch of the destruction of 
Jerusalem), there shall be two men in one bed, the one shall be taken, 
and the other shall be left. Two women shall be grinding to- 
gether ; the one shall be taken, and the other left." Luke xvii. 
34 — 35. Lastly, these differences are also moral and religious : 
" But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure 
of the gift of Christ." Eph. iv. 7. " Who maketh thee to differ 
from another ? " 1 Cor. iv. 7 : and they embrace the infinite 
variety of our individual tasks and parts in life ; men are all 
labourers in the same vineyard; but each hired at a different 
hour to perform his particular task. Matt. xx. 1. and following 
verses. 

(22.) The law of reciprocity among men is providential; and to 
so important a degree that it was theocratic, and as a positive law 
formed part of the Jewish code ; it is explicitly spoken of in the 
following passage of the commandments : c< I the Lord thy God 
am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the 
children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate 
me; and shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, 
and keep my commandments." Ex. xx. 5, 6. Here, as in 
numerous other passages, God is represented as declaring that he 
does himself what he directs by his providence ; and the experience 
of the whole world bears testimony from age to age to the faithful 
execution of this menace, understood in the sense that the con- 
sequences of good, by an admirable divine arrangement of the 
things of this life, are of longer duration than those of evil. The 
terrible consequences of a disordered, impure, infamous life (in- 
famous even in the judicial sense) do not generally continue to be 
felt beyond the third and fourth generation ; while the heritage 
of good may go down through centuries, and be prolonged to 
infinity ; there is no reason why its effects should cease and vanish. 
This law which Jeremiah, towards the end of the reign of Zede- 
kiah, and about a year before the fall of Jerusalem, recalled to 
the memory of Israel in one of his last discourses, Jer. xxxii. 18. 
is everywhere to be seen in action in the history of the people of 
God. From the time of Cain, who denied it in refusing to ac- 
knowledge himself te the keeper of his brother," Gen. iv. 9, and 
of Abraham, who pleaded for its execution in seeking the " ten 
righteous," xviii. 32, in the cities of the plain, until the fall of the 
house of Saul, and the perpetuity promised to the dynasty of 
David, Israel everywhere saw good produce good, evil bring forth 

» 5 



58 NOTES TO BOOK I. 

evil, and the consequences of integrity or frowardness involve 
families and generations. 

Joshua says to the Jews ; iC Did not Achan the son of Zerah 
commit a trespass in the accursed thing, and wrath fell on all the 
congregation of Israel ? and that man perished not alone in his 
iniquity." Josh. xxii. 20. 

We read in the book of Job : " He (the wicked) shall neither 
have son nor nephew among his people, nor any remaining (or 
succeeding him) in his dwellings." Job. xviii. 19. This, accor- 
ding to Oriental ideas, was one of the most dreaded disgraces and 
punishments. Isaiah has clothed this idea in his usual poetic 
language : Ci Thus, saith the Lord, as the new wine (or, more 
exactly, some good grains) is found in the cluster, and one saith, 
destroy it not ; for a blessing is in it : so will I do for my ser- 
vants' sakes, that I may not destroy them all." Isaiah, lxv. 8. 
Jeremiah, in his Lamentations, makes the Jews say : " Our fathers 
have sinned, and are not; and we have borne their iniquities." 
Lam. v. 7. 

It is remarkable, that sometimes the law of reciprocity only 
produces a distant effect, spares one generation and strikes the 
following ; in the threats denounced against Solomon when he 
had turned to the worship of idols, it is said : " I will surely 
rend thy kingdom (a part of thy kingdom) from thee and will 
give it to thy servant. Notwithstanding in thy days I will not 
do it for David thy father's sake ; but I will rend it out of the 
hand of thy son." 1 Kings, xi. 11, 12. We see here the double 
operation of the law, in good and in evil ; in good, from David 
to Solomon ; in evil, from Solomon to Rehoboam ; and in human 
language this signifies, that the religious and political genius of 
David had rendered the constitution of Israel sufficiently strong 
to maintain the integrity of the kingdom during the reign of his 
son, and that the faults of Solomon would, under his successor, 
bring about the fatal revolution called the revolt of the ten tribes. 

In the Gospel, Jei us recognises the law, when on his way to 
Calvary he says to the women who followed him weeping : 
iC Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for your- 
selves, and for your children." Luke, xxiii. 28 : and the Jews 
accepted it, when they cried out before Pilate : f - His blood be on 
us and on our children ! " Matt, xxvii. 25. St. Paul depicted the 
effects of this law as indefinite in their power and duration, when 
he said of the Jews that, notwithstanding their obstinacy in re- 
jecting the new covenant "they are beloved" of God "for the 
fathers' sakes." Rom. xi. 28. The longest and most terrible 
extension given to the law of social compact is expressed by Christ 



NOTES TO BOOK I. 59 

in one of his most vehement discourses : iniquities are there re- 
presented as succeeding each other without intermission during the 
ages of the first covenant, and the vengeance of God withheld, till 
the measure should be filled to the brim, and then burst forth, 
more terrible than ever : " Ye build the sepulchres of the prophets, 
and your fathers killed them. Truly ye bear witness that ye 
allow (approve) the deeds of your fathers : ye be witnesses unto 
yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the 
prophets. Upon you shall come all the righteous blood shed upon 
the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of 
Zacharias, son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple 
and the altar. Verily I say unto you, all these things shall come 
upon this generation." Matt, xxiii. 29—36; Luke, xi. 47 — 51. 

(23.) It is remarkable that the law of reciprocity is accepted 
without a murmur, when it comes into action contemporaneously : 
it is understood, as a general idea, to be very natural that, since 
man is destined to a social life, our contemporaries should injure 
or serve us. The law only appears unjust when applied to de- 
scendants. At the period of the captivity of Babylon, the Jews 
had a favourite proverb, the simple image of which very well ex- 
pressed their murmuring against the law : iC The fathers have 
eaten a sour grape, and the children's teeth are set on edge." 
Jer. xxxi. 29 ; Ezek. xviii. 2. But whether the effect be simul- 
taneous or successive, the principle does not change, and the law 
preserves all its justice. We might go so far as to say that the 
tie between contemporaries, though in some ways more visible, 
is less close than that which connects fathers and children, an- 
cestors and posterity ; a family in its descent is more nearly united 
than a society in its members. Ezekiel, in an admirable discourse, 
reproaches the Jews with this impious accusation against Providence; 
and shews them, that according to the spirit of the Mosaic legisla- 
tion, Deut. xxiv. 16. iC The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The 
son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the 
father bear the iniquity of the son ; the righteousness of the 
righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked 
shall be upon him." Ezek. xviii. 20. These words of the prophet 
are neither at variance with the words of the commandment, Ex. 
xx. 5. nor with the law of reciprocity in general. Ezekiel 
declares the positive intention of divine justice, and Moses, the 
inevitable result of the human social compact. God only imputes 
sin to the authors of sin ; but he does not arrest its consequences, 
either contemporaneous or hereditary ; this would be a violation 
of moral liberty, and an assimilation of good to evil. 

(24*.) " Therefore if I know not the meaning of the voice, I 

D 6 



60 NOTES TO BOOK I. 

shall be unto him that speaketh a barbarian (that is a stranger),, 
and he that speaketh shall be a barbarian unto me." 1 Cor. xiv. 
11. This rupture,, this impossibility of all communication caused 
by the difference of languages, has in it something so painful, 
that it is one of the evils with the description of which the pro- 
phets strengthen their prophetic denunciations against Israel : " The 
Lord shall bring a nation against thee from far, from the end of 
the earth ; a nation whose tongue thou shalt not understand/' 
Deut. xxviii. 49; Jer. v. 15. Isaiah also has a remarkable 
allusion to this subject. He makes the scornful men who rule 
the people, Isaiah, xxviii. 14, speak in these words: "Whom 
shall God teach knowledge ? them that are weaned from the milk, 
and drawn from the breasts. For precept must be upon precept 
(and here the words put into the mouths of the scornful men 
form a parody on the repetitions so frequent in the exhortations 
of the prophets), precept upon precept ; line upon line, line upon 
line ; here a little, and there a little : " . . . and then Isaiah 
again takes up the thread of his discourse, and uses these words 
in a very different sense : " For with stammering lips and another 
tongue, will he speak to this people," Isaiah, xviii. 9 — 11.; an 
allusion to the conquest of Judah and Jerusalem by the armies 
of Babylon. 

(25.) It was just and necessary that the means of communica- 
tion, the gift of speech, should weigh heavily in the balance of 
our moral and religious responsibility. i( I say unto you," said 
Christ, " that every idle word (words prejudicial to the faith of 
others, like the perverse accusation of the Pharisees, which he 
had just refuted : ' This fellow doth not cast out devils, but by 
Beelzebub, the prince of the devils.' Matt. xii. 24.) that men 
shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. 
For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou 
shalt be condemned." Matt. xii. 36, 37. " If any man offend 
not in word, the same is a perfect man." James, iii. 2. 

(26.) c< There are, it may be, so many kinds of voices in 
the world, and none of them is without signification." 1 Cor. 
xiv. 10. 

(27.) St. Paul, with the usual energy of his style, says : " He 
that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh not unto men, but 
unto God." 1 Cor. xiv. 2. 

(28.) ,"..." every one after his tongue, after their families, 
in their nations." Gen. x. 5. The unity of the human race 
would lead us to believe that the diversity of language was esta- 
blished gradually, and that there was a period when all men un- 
derstood each other. " And the whole earth," says Moses, without 



NOTES TO BOOK I. 61 

fixing the date of this time, te was of one language, and of one 
speech." Gen. xi. 1. 

(29.) Job says in his lamentations : " Wherefore then hast 
thou brought me forth out of the womb ? I should have been 
as though I had not been ; I should have been carried from the 
womb to the grave." Job. x. 18, 19- j and it is remarkable that 
Job here employs the word signifying the tomb, where the body 
disappears, and not that signifying the sojourn of the dead where 
souls, according to the Jewish ideas, were gathered together. (See 
the texts in Book II. Chap. xxui. note 31.) 

(30.) Faith, according to St. Paul's definition, is a power 
purely subjective ; " the evidence of things unseen :" here we see 
the religious tendency pressing forward, beyond the limits of the 
material world, to seek the infinite ; " the substance (or lively 
representation) of things hoped for ; " Heb. xi. 1.; and here we 
see it returning upon itself, appropriating its conquests, and filling 
the void of this life with immortal and celestial hopes. Man has 
a natural desire to approach nearer to God, and in order to ap- 
proach him, we must believe both in his existence and in our 
relation to him ; as St. Paul expresses it : fi he that cometh to 
God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them 
that diligently seek him." Heb. xi. 6. 

(31.) Everywhere in revelation the notion of the ideal, of the 
infinite, of the absolute, lies at the basis of the idea of God : some- 
times this thought is expressed in words whose simplicity equals 
their profoundness ; sometimes it is represented by images strik- 
ingly sublime and poetical. 

The celebrated definition of the Supreme Being which Moses 
at the commencement of his mission transmitted to his people, 
and which became, if we may so speak, the Mosaic, the Israelitish 
name of God, the name which God chose and sanctioned as that 
to be used in his communications with his chosen people, displays 
a profoundness of thought never surpassed, and which dazzles our 
intelligence : " God said unto Moses, 1 am that i am : and he 
said, thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, 1 am (Jehovah) 
hath sent me unto you." Ex. iii. 14. The idea of infinite exis- 
tence is here incomparably rendered. 

Setting out from this first idea, we may make a complete col- 
lection of all the ideas of the human mind which rise to the ideal, 
the infinite, the absolute ; there is not one of them which the 
Holy Scripture does not attribute to God : infinite in existence : 
" From everlasting to everlasting thou art God." Ps. xc. 2. " I 
am the first, and I am the last." Isaiah, xli. 4. and xliv. 6. 
" Who only hath immortality." 1 Tim. vi. 16. Infinite in con- 



62 NOTES TO BOOK I. 

stancy, or unchangeable : " But thou art (always) the same," 
Ps. cii. 27. " The Father of lights, with whom is no variable- 
ness, neither shadow of turning." James, i. 17. 

Infinite in instantaneousness, in universality of presence and 
action, or immense : " Behold, the heaven, and heaven of heavens 
cannot contain thee ! " 1 Kings, viii. 27- " Whither shall I go 
from thy Spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence ? 
If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there ; if I make my bed 
in hell, behold, thou art there." Ps. cxxxix. 7» 8. . . . " though 
he be not far from every one of us." Acts, xvii. 27. Infinite in 
power : the name f ' Almighty " is met with in every page of the 
Scriptures, Gen. xvii. 1 ; Rev. xxi. 22. " I know that thou canst 
do every thing." Job. xlii. 2. " Our God is in the heavens ; he 
hath done whatsoever he hath pleased." Ps. ex v. 3. <{ There is 
nothing too hard for thee!" Jer. xxxii. 17 j and his omni- 
potence embraces the moral as well as the material world : (i With 
God all things are possible." Matt. xix. 26 ; Mark. x. 27 ; 
Luke, xviii. 27. M He worketh all things after the counsel of his 
own will." Eph. i. 11. 

Infinite in wisdom, in knowledge : Ci His understanding is 
infinite." Ps. cxlvii. 5; civ. 24. if God only wise." Rom. xvi. 27 ; 
1 Tim. i. 17- " Who hath directed the Spirit of the Lord, or, 
being his counsellor, hath taught him?" Isaiah xl. 13. " The 
manifold wisdom of God." Eph. iii. 10. 

Infinite in perfection, in the moral sense : " Holy, holy, holy, 
is the Lord of hosts." Isaiah vi. 3 ; Rev. iv. 8. (This triple 
repetition, in which mysteries have very ingeniously been sought, 
is merely a superlative form of the Hebrew language, and in- 
dicates greater intensity, if a quality is spoken of, or the extreme 
importance attached by the writer to the thought which he 
expresses ; thus we read in Jeremiah : " Trust ye not in lying 
words, saying, The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, 
the temple of the Lord, are these. . . Then will I cause you to 
dwell in this place." Jer. vii. 4. ; and one of the anathemas of 
the same prophet against Coniah, begins with these words : " O 
earth, earth, earth (land of Judah), hear the word of the Lord." 
xxii. 29. " I will overturn, overturn, overturn it," the crown of 
the dynasty of David." Ezek. xxi. 27) In the xvth chapter of 
Revelation, the two covenants unite in this song of praise: " Who 
shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only 
art holy." " The Lord is righteous in all his ways." Ps. cxlv. 17. 
" God is truth." Deut. xxxii. 4. " Thy mercy, O Lord, is in 
the heavens ; and thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds." 
Ps. xxxvi. 5. " His mercy endureth for ever." Ps. exxxvi. 1. 



NOTES TO BOOK T, 63 

" God is love/' (or charity.) 1 John, iv. 8 — 16. * God is 
light (that is, perfection), and in him is no darkness at all. 
1 John, i. 5. 

Infinite in happiness : St. Paul gives to God the title blessed 
(sovereignly happy). 1 Tim. i. 11. ; and vi. 16. 

In all these passages, the idea of the infinite is magnificently 
shadowed forth in the expression. Again, the Supreme Being, 
according to revelation, has no material attributes, and cannot be 
attained unto by our senses, because the idea of matter and that 
of infinity exclude each other: "Ye saw no manner of similitude 
on the day that the Lord spake unto you in Horeb out of the 
midst of the fire." Deut. iv. 15. " The invisible God." Col. i. 
15. cc God is a spirit." John, iv. 24. And it is in this quality 
of an infinite being that God, superior to all other beings, is only 
responsible to, and bound by himself: " For when God made 
promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he 
sware by himself/' Heb. vi. 13 ; Gen. xxii. 16. 

(32.) The entire and definitive aim of revelation and of re- 
demption is, that believers " may have fellowship with the 
Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ." 1 John i. 3. 

(S3.) " The things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of 
God." 1 Cor. ii. 11. 

(34.) The Scriptures everywhere teach that God is incom- 
prehensible, that his perfections are unsearchable, and his ways 
past finding out. " Canst thou by searching find out God ? 
canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection ? It is as high 
as heaven ; what canst thou do ? deeper than hell ; what canst 
thou know ? " Job, xi. 7, 8. " Behold, God is great, and we 
know him not." Job. xxxvi. 26. " His greatness is unsearch- 
able." Ps. cxlv. 3. Si There is no searching of his under- 
standing." Isaiah xl. 28. " For as the heavens are higher than 
the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my 
thoughts than your thoughts." Isaiah, lv. 9- The same lesson 
of humility is taught in the Gospel : " No man hath seen God at 
any time : " that is, has perfectly known him. John i. 18. and 
1 John iv. 12. " Dwelling in the light which no man can 
approach unto ; and no man hath seen nor can see him." 1 Tim. 
vi. 16. 

(35 ) The unity of God, demonstrated by the grand and simple 
consideration that absolute perfection, the realised ideal, is ne- 
cessarily one, is the very teaching of our Lord, when he replied : 
" There is none good (that is to say, perfect, according to the 
sense of the sacred text), but one, that is, God." Matt. xix. 17 ,* 
Mark x. 18 ; Luke xviii. 19. 



64 NOTES TO BOOK I. 

" The Lord our God is one Lord." Deut. vi. 4. " That men 
may know that thou, whose name alone is Jehovah, art the most 
High over all the earth." Ps. lxxxiii. 18. " But to us there is 
but one God." 1 Cor. viii. 6. 

(36.) The idea of the creation of man is to be found every- 
where throughout the Bible. 1 Cor. xv. 45 j Gen. ii. 7 ; 
Deut. iv. 32 ; Job x. p. 

(37.) " Through faith we understand that the worlds were 
framed by the word of God." Heb. xi. 3. 

(38.) " Who knoweth not, in all these, that the hand of the 
Lord had wrought this ? " Job.xii. 9-> et in the beginning/' Gen. i. 
1. " by his word, so that things which are seen were not made 
of things which do appear" (that is, which existed previously). 
Heb. xi. 3. 

et For he spake, and it was done ; he commanded, and it stood 
fast" (appeared). Ps. xxxiii. 9. " And God said, let there be 
light: and there was light." Gen. i. 3. " Before me there was 
no God formed (rather, there was no powerful God who formed 
or created any thing), neither shall there be after me." Isaiah, xliii. 
10. 

(39). " In the day that God created man, in the likeness of 
God made he him." Gen. i. 26 ; v. 1 ; ix. 6. " Thou hast 
made him a little lower than God." Ps. viii. 5; such is the true 
sense of this passage, usually translated according to a too servile 
imitation of two old versions : " Thou hast made him a little lower 
than the angels." It would seem that a fear had been enter- 
tained of making the sacred poet say too much, and that, by a 
precaution of exaggerated humility, the most restricted sense had 
been preferred. But David evidently alludes in this psalm to the 
narrative in Genesis, which speaks of the resemblance between 
God and man, and not of that between man and the angels. Let 
the noun be employed instead of the pronoun : " Thou hast 
created man a little lower than God," instead of "than thyself," 
and we have only an old form of phraseology conformable to the 
simplicity of the language. " Man is the image of God." 1 Cor. 
xi. 7. ..." Men, which are made after the similitude of God." 
James, iii. 9; and it will hereafter be shewn that this resemblance 
should lead to imitation. (See Book I. Chap. xni. note 51 ; 
Book IV. Chap. xli. note 2., and Chap. u. notes 84 and 85). 

(40.) "Draw nigh to God," says St. James, "and he will 
draw nigh to you." James, iv. 8 ; and God said to Israel : " If 
ye will walk contrary unto me, then will I also walk contrary 
unto you." Lev. xxvi. 23, 24. The two expressions are equally 
remarkable, and both imply the idea of reciprocity ; the image 






NOTES TO BOOK I. 65 

used by the apostle is borrowed from the worship of the temple, 
only celebrated before the ark, which was approached court by 
court, sanctuary by sanctuary : so that to approach God is to serve, 
to adore him ; that used by the prophet is borrowed from the 
movements of armies; Moses uses it in this sense, Deut. i. 44; 
to walk contrary to God is to declare one's self his adversary. 

(41.) The Holy Scriptures of both covenants constantly teach 
and recommend religious joy. " Thy testimonies are the re- 
joicing of my heart." Psalm cxix. 111. " But godliness is pro- 
fitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and 
of that which is to come." 1 Tim. iv. 8. According to St. Paul, 
" the kingdom of God (that is, the reign of the Gospel) is not 
meat and drink ; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the 
Holy Spirit." Rom. xiv. 17- "Rejoice in the Lord." Philip- 
pians, iii. 1 ; and iv. 4. " Rejoicing in hope." Rom. xii. 12. 
" Rejoice evermore." 1 Thess. v. 16*. "As sorrowful, yet always 
rejoicing." 2 Cor. vi. 10. Such is the express doctrine of the 
sacred writings, so plainly and constantly expressed, that St. Paul 
utters the following wish for the believers in Rome, " Now the 
God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing." Rom. 
xv. 13. The piety of the first Christians conformed to these 
precepts : f ' they did eat their meat with gladness and singleness 
of heart," Acts, ii. 46; how far removed from the gloomy Chris- 
tianity of many early and modern sects ! 

(42.) St. Paul, in his last trials, expresses the firmness of his 
confidence by saying to his friend Timothy, not only " 1 have 
believed," but, " I know whom I have believed.'' 2 Tim. i. 12. 

(43.) " And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, 
it was very good." Gen. i. 31. " He is the Rock (the Creator) ; 
his work is perfect." Deut. xxxii. 4. " O Lord, how manifold 
are thy works ! In wisdom hast thou made them all." Psalm civ. 
24. The strength of all these expressions implies the idea of an 
absolute perfection ; in other words, the wisest and most excellent 
designs carried out in the best manner. It is clear that divine 
activity cannot be exercised without an aim ; and, according to 
the idea of the wise man, " The Lord hath made all things for 
himself," (or that they may answer their aim). Prov. xvi. 4. 

(44.) " Where wast thou," said the Lord to Job, te when I 
laid the foundations of the earth ? " Job, xxxviii. 4 ; a solemn 
question, which admits but of one answer, — not in existence. 

(45.) God "cannot deny himself ;" 2 Tim. ii. 13; and it 
would have been a flagrant contradiction to have created man for 
progress, and at the same time have withheld from him the only 
means of attaining it — freedom of action. (See Book I. Chap* 



66 NOTES TO BOOK I. 

iv. note 10; Book III. Chap.xxx. note 10 ; Book IV. Chap. xlv. 
note 23 ; and Chap. xlix. note 59.) 

(46.) All these ideas on the capacity of reason, and on the 
notion of mystery considered as half -knowledge, are in perfect 
accordance with the kind of knowledge which St. Paul assigns to 
men, and St. Peter to angels : " For now we see through a glass, 
darkly . . . now I know in part.'' 1 Cor. xiii. 12. "Which 
things/' says St. Peter (and these things are the truths of the 
Gospel), "the angels desire to look into." 1 Peter, i. 12. 

To become irritated at encountering mysteries, and to aspire 
to remove all obscurity is, therefore, to imitate the man ft vainly 
puffed up by his fleshly mind, intruding into those things which 
he hath not seen;" that is, according to the apostle's idea, the 
things which are beyond the scope of our actual reason. Col. ii. 
18. 

(47.) To omniscience there are no mysteries : " God knoweth 
all things." 1 John, iii. 20. 

(48.) The legitimate or illegitimate alternative of human ac- 
tivity, represented in the first pages of the Bible by ce the tree of 
the knowledge (or distinction) of good and evil," Gen. ii. 17, is 
expressed in a general manner in a sense at once subjective or 
theoretical, and external or practical, in these words of Jesus : 
t( A good man, out of the good treasure of his heart, bringeth 
forth good things : and an evil man, out of the evil treasure, 
bringeth forth evil things." Matt. xii. 35 ; Luke, vi. 45. (On 
the allegory of the forbidden fruit, see Book II. Chap. xx. note 

7.) 

(49.) " The eye is not (is never) satisfied with seeing, nor 
the ear filled with hearing," Ecc. i. 8, when man unweariedly 
employs these instruments of his intelligence. An image of the 
same kind in the Book of Proverbs expresses the insatiable ardour 
of man's desires. (See note 72.) 

(50.) St. Paul, in the picture which he draws of the false 
teachers, against whom he had to struggle at the end of his career, 
inserts this feature : " Ever learning, and never able to come to 
the knowledge of the truth." 2 Tim. iii. 7« 

(51.) There is no truth which is expressed in revelation in 
terms more positive, more clear, more sublime than that of the 
imitation of the Creator by the creature. The primitive resem- 
blance of man to God is the principle (see the texts of Book I. 
Chap. x. note SQ) ; and it is said : " Be ye therefore perfect, 
even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect," Matt, v, 48 ; 
" merciful, as your Father also is merciful." Luke, vi. 36. These 
commandments of Jesus himself, impossible if taken literally. 



NOTES TO BOOK I. 67 

contain the positive idea of an indefinite and eternal approximation. 
St. Paul has said, " Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear 
children/' Eph. v. 1 ; and St. Peter : " But as he which hath 
called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation." 
1 Peter, i. 15. Afflictions, and even chastisements, are explained 
and softened hy the idea of this assimilation : " For they verily 
for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure ; but he for 
our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness." Heb. xii. 
10. If this progress, the divine aim of life, has failed to be ac- 
complished, if even the circumstances which might most usefully 
have favoured, have only been employed to repress and extin- 
guish it ; if a man thus gifted has gone farther from, instead of 
approaching God, then, indeed, it necessarily results that " it had 
been good for that man if he had not been born ;" Matt. xxvi. 
24 ; Mark, xiv. 21 ; a just and terrible reflection, the best com- 
mentary on which is contained in the words of Moses, so bold in 
their simplicity, et And it repented the Lord that he had made 
man," Gen. vi. 6; and in this declaration of Supreme Wis- 
dom to its enemies, " all they that hate me love death," Prov. 
viii. 36. 

It is in virtue of the same principles that the Sacred Scriptures 
everywhere combine and mingle the idea of real life, the existence 
truly worthy of that name, and the idea of integrity. Texts on 
this subject abound, from the illusion which sin never ceases to 
reproduce, by substituting a life of death for a real life : " Ye 
shall not surely die," IC ye shall be as gods," Gen. iii. 4, 5 ; to 
the reply of Christ to the lawyer, "This do, and thou shalt live!" 
Luke, x. 28. Who does not admire the power of the following 
passages ? — " See, I have set before thee this day life and good, 
and death and evil." Deut. xxx. 15. " It (this law) is your life." 
xxxii. 47. " Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are 
the issues of life." Prov. iv. 23. " In the way of righteousness 
is life ; and in the pathway thereof there is no death." xii. 28. 
These same principles will hereafter explain to us how " In him 
(in the Word) was life," John, i. 4 ; how Jesus is "the way, 
and the truth, and the life," xiv. 6 ; and how our " life is hid 
with Christ in God." Col. iii. 3. (See Book VI. Chap. lxii. 
note 13.) 

On the image of God in man, see Book I. Chap. x. joote 39 ; 
on Christ the image of God, Book IV. Chap. xli. note 2 ; on 
Christ a perfect man, and model of humanity, Book IV. Chap. 
jli. notes 84, 85. 

(52.) The Gospel never makes any allusion to the doctrine of 
an absorption in God. St. John says, " He that doeth the will 



68 NOTES TO BOOK I. 

of God abideth for ever." 1 John, ii. 17. (See Book I. Chap, 
xvi. note 61, for the texts on individual immortality.) 

(53.) Wilt thou condemn me, that thou mayest be righteous? " 
Job, xl. 8. " Yet the children of thy people say, The way of 
the Lord is not equal : but, as for them, their way is not equal." 
Ezek. xxxiii. 17. 

(54.) " Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of 
God : for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he 
any man : but every man is tempted when he is drawn away of 
his own lust and enticed/' James, i. 13, 14. " For all that is 
in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and 
the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world." 1 John, 
ii. 16. " No lie (or false doctrine) is of (draws its origin from) 
the truth." ii. 21. Why should we then say, again and again, 
" Didst not thou sow good seed in thy field ? from whence then 
hath it tares ? " 

(55.) The identity, throughout the whole creation, of the 
spiritual powers or tendencies, is sanctioned by revelation, and de- 
finitively expressed in the two following texts : as regards the al- 
ternative which is in conformity with the aim of the creation, the 
expression in our Lord's prayer, " Thy will be done on earth as 
it is in heaven," Matt. vi. 10, meets all doubt : and, as regards 
the opposite alternative, the very remarkable declaration of St. 
James leads to the same conclusion : " Thou believest that there 
is one God ; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble." 
James, ii. 1Q. Thus, then, the practice of good, and the idea of 
God are common to our world and to other spiritual worlds, 
notwithstanding the differences which separate us. 

Again, ' ' Charity never faileth." 1 Cor. xiii. 8. This assertion 
is used by St. Paul as a transition, to the magnificent develop- 
ments which terminate the panegyric on charity, and which de- 
monstrate the superiority of immortality over life. To restrict 
the apostle's idea is to disfigure it : he desires to express that love — 
such love as Jesus manifested, and as the Gospel teaches — is a 
virtue, an emotion, a joy appertaining to heaven as well as to 
earth, that it will fill immortality as it should fill life, and that 
its nature is unchangeable ; the same in both. 

St. Paul has said, " Know ye not that we (the Christians) 
shall judge angels ? " 1 Cor. vi. 3 ; that is to say, shall condemn 
them by our example, thus justifying God's judgments with 
regard to them ; since, if we fulfil the end of our existence, it was 
still more in their power to have fulfilled the end of theirs. This 
bringing together of men and angels is of no force, if between 
the morality of the angels and ours there existed more than a 









NOTES TO BOOK I. 69 

difference of degree. This vivid allusion is quite in the spirit of 
St. Paul ; but it is by no means in conformity with his spirit to 
translate the word angels in this passage, and to understand by it 
the ministers of religion, or the divine messengers, the prophets. 
The idea of the apostle rises from the less to the greater subject. 
He has just said that " the saints (that is, the Christians) shall 
judge the world," vi. 2 ; that is, the gentiles ; and in the same 
sense he adds the idea that true Christian holiness serves for the 
confusion of higher spirits who have not preserved theirs. 

(56.) Revelation certifies the existence of beings differing from 
man, superior to him in the faculties with which they are gifted, 
still imperfectly known, and with whom everything seems to an- 
nounce that he will contract nearer relations. Passages of this kind 
abound ; but we should be on our guard against adopting as 
positive proofs of the existence of angels or demons a number of 
expressions, either poetic or proverbial, which the Jews brought 
back from Asia, and the significations of which are evidently 
allegorical : thus when Jesus, rejoicing at the rapidity of the first 
success and diffusion of his Gospel, exclaims, " I beheld Satan as 
lightning fall from heaven," Luke, x. 18, he merely makes use of 
an image which in no way implied the existence of a Satan. 
Other passages only offer examples of the familiar language of the 
Jews, who attributed to the mission and intervention of angels 
the phenomena of nature, and the extraordinary events, whether 
fortunate or unfortunate, whether deliverances or chastisements, 
which they could not explain to themselves. Thus St. John 
relates the popular idea which explained the periodical commotion 
of the mineral spring of Bethesda : u For an angel went down at 
a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water," John, v. 4; 
again, St. Luke, in speaking of the death of Herod Agrippa, says, 
" The angel of the Lord smote him. . . . and he was eaten up 
of worms, and gave up the ghost ; " so sudden and terrible was 
the attack experienced by this impious prince, in the midst of the 
pomp of an audience, of the pedicular disease of which he in fact 
died a few days afterwards. 

But the two texts, positive and clear, already cited above, i( thy 
will be done on earth, as it is in heaven," Matt. vi. 1 0, and " the 
devils also believe (that there is a God) and tremble," James, 
ii. ip, are confirmed by many others equally inexplicable in a 
sense purely emblematical and figurative : the joy which the 
angels feel at the conversion of sinners, " I say unto you, there 
is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that 
repenteth," Luke, xv. 10 ; our immortality compared to their 
existence, " neither can they (the just) die any more; for they 



70 NOTES TO BOOK I. 

are equal to (will be like) the angels/' Luke, xx. 36 : our future 
relations placed on a parallel with theirs ; " For in the resurrection 
they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the 
angels of God in heaven ; " Matt. xxii. 30; Mark, xii. 25: the 
ignorance in which they have been left as to the epoch at which 
the terrestrial destiny of humanity will come to a close ; <s But 
of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of 
heaven;" Matt. xxiv. 56 ; Mark, xiii. 32 : the knowledge of 
our redemption attributed to them ; " God was manifest in the 
flesh . . . seen of angels j" 1 Tim. iii. 16: the parallel drawn 
between them and Christ at the beginning of the epistle to the 
Hebrews, Heb. i. 4 — 14; and the text in which it is said that 
the Saviour appeared under our resemblance, under our form, and 
not under theirs; Heb. ii. 16. All these are traits which have 
no reasonable or natural signification, if we do not acknowledge 
that revelation teaches, as a fact, the existence in the universe of 
beings superior to humanity. (See Book V. Chap. lvi. note 33.) 
(57.) The texts given in Book I. Chap. x. note 39, show 
that the idea of the resemblance between the Creator and the 
creature is to be found throughout the whole of revelation. Those 
quoted in Book I. Chap. xn. note 51, prove that this resemblance 
should, with free beings, produce imitation ; and imitation, when 
the imitating being is finite and the imitated infinite, supposes 
progress. The following passages show that the idea of progress 
is no less expressed in Scripture than that of resemblance ; it is 
considered as a path into which God leads us, as an injunction 
on his part, as a natural hope or deduction offering itself to faitb : 
progress in the march of humanity, and in the assistance which 
God renders it. " Think not," said Jesus, " that I am come to 
destroy the law or the prophets : I am not come to destroy, but 
to fulfil," that is to say, to complete. Matt. v. 17- " God, who 
at sundry times, and in divers manners, spake in time past unto 
the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto 
us by his Son." Heb. i. 1, 2. t( Which (the ordinances of the 
law) are a shadow of things to come.'' Col. ii. 17 ; Heb. x. I. 
" Wherefore then serveth the law ? It was added (to the pro- 
mise of a Saviour made to Abraham) because of transgressions, 
till the seed should come to whom the promise was made .... 
Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ." 
Gal. iii. 1,9 — 24. " For even that which was made glorious (the 
Mosaic economy) had no glory in this respect, by reason of the 
glory that excelleth." 2 Cor. iii. 10. Progress considered as the 
duty of every man : " Be perfect" (tend to perfection) ; 2 Cor. 
xiii. 11 ; "Not as though I had already attained, either were 






NOTES TO BOOK I. 71 

already perfect ; but I follow after ;" Phil. iii. 12 : and Christ, 
sanctioning the law of progress, said to the young man who was 
rich, " If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast." Matt, 
xix. 21. Again, it is in consequence of the law of progress that 
it is not permitted us to l( hide the talent," instead of making it 
produce interest; Matt. xxv. 18: to "quench the spirit;" 
1 Thes. v. 19; to "neglect the gift which is in us;" 1 Tim. 
iv. 14; and not to "stir up the gift of God." 2 Tim. i. 6. 
Immortality is always represented as an immense progress beyond 
life, an enlargement of all the faculties, a complete purification of 
the being; and, consequently, an inappreciable amelioration of the 
destiny. " Well done, good and faithful servant," will the su- 
preme voice say, " thou hast been faithful over a few things, I 
will make thee ruler over many things;" Matt. xxv. 21 ; and 
this is addressed to him who had only received two talents, as 
well as to him who had received five. According to St. Paul, 
immortality is perfection in comparison with this life : " But 
when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part 
shall be done away." 1 Cor. xiii. 10. St. Paul in another passage 
compares this life, in reference to a future one, to early childhood : 
t( When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a 
child, I thought as a child ; but when I became a man, I put 
away childish things." I Cor. xiii. 11. According to the same 
apostle, this state of existence is only worthy to be considered as 
a material fact, which is to be followed by a spiritual fact : 
" Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which 
is natural ; and afterward that which is spiritual." 1 Cor. xv. 
4>6. Again, " the dead shall be raised incorruptible," xv. 52 ; 
and our existence here is but a journey ; e< whilst we are at home 
in the body, we are absent from the Lord." 2 Cor. v. 6. As 
regards moral security, "he that is dead is freed from sin;" 
Rom, vi. 7 : as regards the greatness of the reparation for suffer- 
ing in this life, " I reckon that the sufferings of this present time 
are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be 
revealed in us." Rom. viii. 18 : and as regards the extent of 
knowledge, " now we see through a glass, darkly ; but then face 
to face." 1 Cor. xiii. 12. 

(58.) It is natural that the idea of progress, of perpetual 
approach towards perfection, should very rarely present itself in 
the Holy Scriptures, as applied to any other phase than ours, to 
a class of beings differing from men, to another world than our 
world ; revelation had to do with our race only. Sometimes, 
however, the faith of the inspired writers takes this flight, and 
affords us a vague glimpse of a system of universal progress, pro- 



72 NOTES TO BOOK I. 

gress which has heaven for its theatre. We read in the book of 
Job, in the oracle delivered to Eliphaz by the spirit which ap- 
peared to him in the darkness of the night, and whose presence 
he so poetically relates : (< Shall mortal man be more just than 
God ? (be just before God ;) shall a man be more pure than his 
Maker? (be pure before his Maker.) Behold, he put no trust in 
his servants (celestial ministers), and his angels he charged with 
folly. " Job, iv. 17, 18. It is proved that these last words are 
not the continuation of the discourse of Eliphaz, but belong to 
the oracle delivered to him. Here, then, God is represented as 
judging and measuring the holiness of the angels, and declaring 
that there are degress of holiness above theirs. How can we 
avoid believing that the way to this superior holiness is open to 
them ? What is a recognised imperfection, if not a step to 
mount ? In another of his replies to Job, Eliphaz again cites 
the oracle, and with the same force : " Yea, the heavens are not 
clean in his sight." xv. 15. The heavens here signify the inha- 
bitants of heaven, in the same sense that the word i( world " often 
signifies mankind. And the knowledge of the angels may in- 
crease as well as their holiness : St. Peter has said, that the mys- 
teries of redemption the angels desire to know thoroughly : 
" which things the angels desire to look into." 1 Peter, i. 12. 

(59.) " Neither was the man created for the woman ; but the 
woman for the man." 1 Cor. xi. 8. 

(60.) The infinite variety of creation throughout the vegetable 
kingdom, the animal kingdom, humanity, and the firmament 
itself, is given by St. Paul as a positive intention of the Creator : 
<( But God giveth it (the grain of corn) a body as it hath pleased 
him, and to every seed his own body (the body proper for it). 
All flesh is not the same flesh : but there is one kind of flesh of 
men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another of 
birds. There are -also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial : but 
the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is 
another. There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the 
moon, and another glory of the stars ; for one star differeth from 
another star in glory." 1 Cor. xv. 38 — 41. 

(6l.) Immortality, such as the Gospel teaches, is a personal 
immortality, and the aim of the resurrection of Jesus was to es- 
tablish as facts the nullity of death and the certainty of immor- 
tality ; and to show, by his example, that individuality is not 
touched by these phenomena. Christ, when dying, said : ct Fa- 
ther, into thy hands I commend my spirit." Luke, xxiii. 46. To 
his apostles, in order to make himself recognised after his resur- 
rection, he said: " It is I mvself : " and added, in order the 



NOTES TO BOOK I. 73 

better to convince them of his identity : Ci a spirit hath not flesh 
and bones." xxiv. 3Q. An equally personal re-entrance upon 
life awaits us all, since Christ has said : " I ascend unto my 
Father, and your Father, and to my God, and your God." John, 
xx. 17- " He which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up 
us also by Jesus " (like Jesus). 2 Cor. iv. 14. " For if we be- 
lieve that Jesus died, and rose again, even so them also which 
sleep in Jesus will God bring with him." 1 Thes. iv. 14. It is 
in virtue of this immortal identity that our " whole spirit, and 
soul, and body (our entire being) ought to be preserved blameless 
unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ," 1 Thes. v. 23 ; 
and that God "will render to every man according to his deeds." 
Rom. ii. 6. The same idea is clearly contained in the promises 
of Christ : " He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet 
shall he live." John, xi. 25. " In my Father's house are many 
mansions. ... I go to prepare a place for you;" xiv. 2: a place, 
that is, for each of you. Again, Jesus explicitly declares that the 
immortality which he promises is not of a vague and empty na- 
ture, but an immortality filled with the blessings demanded by 
our nature : "lam come that they (my sheep) might have life, 
and that they might have it more abundantly" (that they might 
have more than life), John, x. 10: above all, that they might 
have full intelligence and understanding on the truths of religion : 
" and in that day ye shall ask me nothing." xvi. 23. 

To be able to raise the mind to the idea that the exterior and 
corporeal death might, if God so willed, have no grasp upon life, 
to see, even dimly, the powerlessness of decease, and the real void 
of the tomb, was to so high a degree, before the Gospel, the 
summit, triumph, and apogee of religious faith, that but one man 
under the old covenant seems to have attained it — Abraham; and 
to this end two things were necessary ; to be what he was as a 
believer and the father of believers, and to go through the trial of 
the sacrifice of Isaac: Abraham " accounted," or thought within 
himself "that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead." 
Heb. xi. 19. 

The certainty of an immortality entirely personal, may also be 
deduced from the Gospel promises on the subject of the compen- 
sation to be made in a future life for the trials of the present : 
these promises have neither sense nor value if the same person 
who has suffered is not the person compensated : " Blessed are 
they that mourn : for they shall be comforted." Matt. v. 4. 
" Which (the persecutions and tribulations) is a manifest token 
of the righteous judgment of God, that ye may be counted worthy 
of the kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer." 2 Thes. i. 5. 

E 



/4 NOTES TO BOOK I. 

. . . "Ye took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing in 
yourselves that ye have in heaven a better and an enduring sub- 
stance." Heb. x. 34. " Count it all joy when ye fall into divers 
temptations." James, i. 2. Lastly, from the principle of immor- 
tal identity result, as inevitable deductions, the recognition of 
our fellow -creatures, of our friends, of our parents, and the re- 
union of friendship and love — in a word, of our relations. Iden- 
tity will not exist, if our relations do not exist. See Book V, 
Chap. lvi. note 32 ; Book VI. Chap, lxxvii. 

(6*2.) Revelation admits the spirituality of the soul : " That 
my soul may bless thee before I die." Gen. xxvii. 4. " Thou 
shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart." Deut. vi. 5 ; 
xi. 13 ; xxx. 6. &c. " Then shall the dust return to the earth 
as it was; and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it." Eccl. 
xii. 7- The spiritualism of the Old Testament, otherwise rather 
vague, is proved by the ancient doctrine of a place of sojourn for 
souls after death. (See the texts in Book II. Chap. xxin. note SI.) 
The spiritualism of the New Testament is as explicit as possible, 
and cannot admit of the least doubt. "And fear not them 
which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul." Matt. x. 
28; Luke, xii. 4. "Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be 
required of thee." xii. 20. " Christ being put to death in the 
flesh, but quickened by the spirit." 1 Peter, iii. 18; and the 
connection of ideas clearly shows that St. Peter is here speaking 
of the death of the body and the life of the soul. (See, on the 
connection of the soul and body, Book V. Chap. lvi. note 29-) 

{63.) The brute creation possesses, and often displays, in a 
manner so striking, the power of the affections, that the sacred 
poets make use of this image to represent the providence and 
goodness of God towards his people : " As an eagle stirreth up 
her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, 
taketh them, beareth them on her wings ; so the Lord alone did 
lead him (his people)." Deut. xxxii. 11 ; Isaiah, xxxi. 5. 

(64.) The nature of animals and the horror of God for all 
suffering explain the care which Providence takes of animated 
creation, and man's duty to be just and merciful towards it: "O 
Lord, thou preservest man and beast." Ps. xxxvi. 6. " These 
wait all upon thee, that thou mayest give them their meat in due 
season." Ps. civ. 27; cxlv. 15. "He giveth to the beast his 
food, and to the young ravens w r hich cry." cxlvii. 9. " Behold 
the fowls of the air : for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor 
gather into barns ; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them." 
Matt. vi. 26. " Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings ? 
and not one of them is forgotten before God ? " Luke, xii. 6. 



NOTES TO BOOK I. 75 

" One of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father." 
Matt. x. 29. Again, in the divine covenant renewed for our 
world with Noah, the animals, every living creature, are included, 
Gen. ix. 12 — 17; and in the book of Jonah, one of the motives 
of pity which causes Nineveh to be spared is, that it contains 
much cattle, which would have perished along with the men. 
Jon. iv. 11. This trait, in a parable, is extremely remarkable, 
and shows that in Israel, among the enlightened, far from cruelty 
to animals appearing excusable, their life was reputed precious 
before God. Moses had first taught this religious compassion : 
te When ye make a sacrifice of cow or ewe, ye shall not kill it 
and her young both in one day." Lev. xxii. 28. " If a bird's 
nest chance to be before thee in the way in any tree, or on the 
ground, whether they be young ones or eggs, and the dam sitting 
upon the young, or upon the eggs, thou shalt not take the dam 
with the young ; but thou shalt in any wise let the dam go, and 
take the young to thee : that it may be well with thee, and that 
thou mayest prolong thy days." Deut. xxii. 6, 7- " A right- 
eous man regardeth the life of his beast, but the tender mercies 
of the wicked are cruel." Prov. xii. 10. " Thou shalt not 
muzzle the ox when he treadeth out the corn," Deut. xxv. 4.; a 
precept to which St. Paul attaches sufficient importance to deduce 
from it, by extension, the right of every labourer to his hire. 
1 Cor. ix. 9- 

{65.) " Their young ones are in good liking, they grow up 
with corn ; they go forth, and return not unto them." Job 
xxxix. 4. 

(66.) " And let them (men) have dominion over the fish of 
the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over 
all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon 
the earth." Gen. i. 26. " Into your hand are they delivered." 
Gen. ix. 2. " Thou madest him to have dominion over the 
works of thy hands ... all sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts 
of the field ; the fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and 
whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas." Psalm viii. 
6—8. 

(67.) te Are ye not much better than they ? " (the fowls of the 
air). Matt. vi. 26. " How much then is a man better than a 
sheep !" xii. 12. l( Ye are of more value than many sparrows." 
x. 31 ; Luke, xii. 7. 

(68.) "And the Lord thy God will put out those nations 
(Canaanite) before thee (Israel) by little and little ; thou mayest 
not consume them at once, lest the beasts of the field increase 
upon thee." Deut. vii. 22. 

E 2 



76 NOTES TO BOOK I, 

(69«) " And there was not a man to till the ground." Gen. ii. 5. 
(70.) "For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth 
beasts : even one thing befalleth them ; as the one dieth so 
dieth the other ; yea, they have all one breath : so that a man 
hath no pre-eminence above a beast, for all is vanity. All go 
unto one place, all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again. 
Who knoweth whether the spirit (the breath) of man goeth up- 
ward, and whether the spirit of the beast goeth downward to the 
earth?" Eccl. iii. 19 — 21. The conclusion to be deduced from this 
curious passage, of which we here give the most simple and 
faithful version, is very uncertain, and depends on the general 
idea which we conceive of the book of Ecclesiastes. It appears 
indisputable that this book is a discussion in an assembly, or 
a dialogue : the disparity of the ideas which succeed, and often 
alternate with, one another, furnish proofs of this view. But it 
by no means follows that the division of the discourse among the 
various interlocutors is easy, clear, and certain : hence a great 
number of different divisions or sections of the treatise have been 
proposed. The sense constantly and entirely changes according 
as a certain reflection, or a certain passage, is attributed to one 
or another interlocutor, and the uncertainty is increased by the 
fact that the form of interrogation in Hebrew is frequently 
affirmative. Again, according to some interpreters, the book of 
Ecclesiastes presents no argument in favour of a future life, and 
is but a picture of the miseries and vanities of the present, from 
which it teaches us to withdraw ourselves as much as possible by 
engaging in labours which, even should they be fruitless, occupy 
us, and by performing those duties from which even discontent 
does not exempt us. According to other commentators, the book 
is a discussion, in which a sage refutes the objections of a world- 
ling, disgusted, but not yet consoled and converted. Immortality 
is taught in the text : " the spirit shall return unto God who 
gave it," Eccl. xii. 7. ' the general judgment is expressed after- 
wards in the passage — if God shall bring every work into judg- 
ment," xii. 14; which is but a repetition in the epilogue of the 
celebrated apostrophe to the "young man." xi. 9> 10. 

Whatever opinion we may adopt on the divisions and doctrine of 
this book, it is evident that the singular comparison drawn between 
man and the beasts, in the verses above cited, takes its origin 
from the old observation, the first difference perhaps which an- 
tiquity remarked between them ; viz. that man's upright stature 
causes him to direct his respiration towards heaven, whilst the 
brute rather respires towards the ground ; and that, notwith- 
standing this difference, their deaths are similar. This gives us 



NOTES TO BOOK I. 77 

the clue to the explanation of the text : above all, if we adopt the 
system, and, considering all circumstances, the most probable, 
which sees in Ecclesiastes the ideas of responsibility and immor- 
tality. This similitude of death, placed in the balance with the* 
difference of respiration, shows that nothing is to be concluded 
against the hope of another life from the fact that all return to 
dust by the same road. These texts, if they do not explicitly 
favour the system of a future life destined for the brute creation, 
contain nothing in support of the common opinion. 

(71.) " My father," said Jesus, " worketh hitherto (conti- 
nually)." In the Infinite Being an interruption of activity and 
energy is not to be conceived. 

(72.) " Hell and destruction (the kingdom of death) are never 
full ; so the eyes of man are never satisfied." Prov. xxvii. 20. 
This maxim offers a very lively image of the extent of human 
desires, of which the eye is, as it were, the seat, because man 
would desire to possess himself of all that he sees ; and the image 
is so much the more forcible because it is taken, not from the 
grave, which only engulfs one corpse, but from the place of 
sojourn of spirits, or manes (see the texts in Book II. Chap. 
xxiii. note 31.), which receives all the dead. 



E 3 



78 



BOOK II. 



EXAMINATION OF THE PRINCIPAL PROBLEMS OF THE HUMAN 

MIND. 



Un nouveau principe est une source inepuisable de nouvelles vues. 

Vauvenargues, Max. 211. 
Les notions simples, les verites necessaires et les consequences demon- 
stratives de la philosophie ne sauraient etre contraires a la revelation. 
Leibnitz, Conformite de la Raison et de la Foi, § 4. 



CHAP. XIX. 

SPACE, TIME, NATURE, COSMOGONY, CHAOS. 

In the principle of phases of progress, as explained in 
the preceding Book, our system finds an easy and cer- 
tain solution of the principal problems which engage 
the attention of the human mind. 

Space and time are intuitions, or necessary notions ; 
because they are the absolute condition of the possibi- 
lity of actual human progress. 

This progress must have a suitable theatre on which 
it can be exhibited ; we are scholars, and we have a 
school. (1) 

It is further necessary that this kind of progress 
must have a succession through which it can pass ; we 
are scholars, and we have our hours of study. (2) 

Time and space cannot be annihilated, even in idea, 
although the material universe may : why ? because 
without the material universe our progress towards God 
would still be possible ; in other words, because the 









TIME, COSMOGONY, CHAOS. 79 

tendency towards God would remain in us ; and, on 
the other hand, we could not annihilate time and space, 
because without time and space actual progress towards 
God would be inconceivable. 

Time and space are not then things without us ; they 
have no objective value ; they have only a subjective 
existence ; they are merely the signposts on the path of 
progress ; they point out, or rather sketch, the way. 

It is progress which forms in us the intuition of 
time ; and animals are ignorant of time, because they 
are ignorant of progress ; if they had a notion of dura- 
tion, they would have a faculty of progress. 

What is nature, or, more exactly speaking, a 
nature? It is (to borrow a term from the physical 
sciences) a surrounding medium, in which a phase of 
progress is accomplished, it is an assemblage of inani- 
mate objects, instruments of progress, but which may 
also become obstacles and barriers. (3) 

From this definition the fixity of the laws of nature 
follows as a divine necessity of position ; it is meet that 
a race of beings engaged in a phase of progress should 
be able tranquilly to continue its route, and to reckon 
with certainty upon the stability of nature which serves 
as its means. (4) 

There must, then, be different natures, according to 
the difference of classes of progressive beings spread 
over creation, according to their different degrees of 
resemblance to God. 

All heavens declare the glory of God : but each 
heaven has its voice, each star its splendour, each world 
its nature. 

What is a cosmogony ? Such, for example, as the 
six days of creation, according to Moses : the arrange- 
ment of a world for a phase of progress. 



80 EDEN, THE FALL, ORIGINAL SIN. 

What is a chaos ? The intermediate state of a 
world, where one phase of progress has terminated, and 
before a new phase begins. 

It would be still more correct to say that cosmogony 
and chaos are synonymous. (5) A world only ends in 
order to re-commence ; there is not a useless star in 
creation ; God avails himself of all worlds ; chaos and 
cosmogonies are in contact with each other, and there 
can be no doubt, that from the moment when a star 
becomes unsuitable to one phase of progress, it is pre- 
pared in order to serve for another. 



CHAP. XX. 

EDEN, THE FALL, ORIGINAL SIN. 






What is a paradise, Eden, a golden age, a reign of 
the gods ? It is progress fulfilling its aim : it is the 
age, the day, the moment (for questions of duration do 
not here enter into the inquiry), during which progress 
is accomplishing its end ; activity follows its legitimate 
alternative ; creatures approximate God, and resemble 
him more and more. (6) 

What is a fall in the dogmatic sense of the word ? 
The first step taken by a class of creatures on the path 
contrary to progress, the first fact by which activity 
follows its illegitimate alternative, the first retirement 
from God, the first sign of a voluntary difference with 
the Creator. (7) 

What is original sin in the dogmatic sense of the 
word ? It is the fall considered in relation to the law 
of reciprocity : our fellow-men are beings occupied in 
the same phase of progress as ourselves, and with our- 
selves ; but, in following the same route, if there be 



PHYSICAL EVIL. 81 

amongst moral beings a social compact, resulting from 
the force of their affections, a single member by a back- 
ward movement will draw the whole species in the 
same direction ; a single man, by withdrawing from 
God, will, more or less, retard all his fellow-men. (8) 

According to this view, it is of no consequence, as 
far as mankind is concerned, to search into the duration 
of its phase of progress before the fall, the precise 
period at which the fall took place, or the number of 
the first authors of the introduction of moral evil. Of 
what importance is it by what human foot the first 
retrograde step was taken ? We know that it has been 
taken (see Book III. Chaps, xxix. and xxx) . Its impress, 
effect, imitation, are everywhere visible. These ques- 
tions are to be discarded from the sphere of the dogma ; 
they belong to the domain of history ; and whether left 
out of view or thoroughly examined, resolved in one 
sense or another, declared to be doubtful or unknown, 
they make no change whatever on the discoveries and 
definitions of Christianity, as expounded in these pages. 



CHAP. XXI. ; 

PHYSICAL EVIL. 

Moral evil is the cause of physical evil. (9) When 
any species of progressive beings whatsoever enters 
upon a false path, and retires from instead of drawing 
nearer to the Creator, it inevitably happens that the 
nature which has been given it as the instrument of 
this phase of progress changes with it. The surround- 
ing medium is deteriorated when the beings who are 
immersed in it are themselves deteriorated. 

These beings have made a bad use of one of their 

E 5 



82 PHYSICAL EVIL. 

instruments of progress ; they have drawn back from 
God by the aid of those very means which ought to 
have conducted them towards the Infinite ; and it inevi- 
tably follows that the instrument becomes an obstacle. 

Observe, now, why all suffering is a diminution o£ 
activity. 

Some are unwilling to believe that volcanoes, tem- 
pests, inundations, famine, and pestilence, are conse- 
quences of the fall; these things, it is said, are too 
great. Some are unwilling to believe that the troubles, 
the vexations, and mere annoyances of life proceed from 
moral evil : these things, it is said, are too small ; and 
therefore men attempt to render it impossible to con- 
ceive any bond or connection between physical suffer- 
ings and human sins. 

It is, however, far more impossible to conceive that 
a world prepared by the Creator in order to serve for a 
given phase of progress, and with this view enriched by 
a nature appropriate to this end, should remain as it is, 
whether this progress is accomplished in it, or not. 

A class of progressive beings has only a usufruct of 
the world, and of the nature arranged to serve as its 
habitation ; it holds them upon lease for a given time ; 
and it is a necessary result that the use or abuse should 
make the resources of the domain and the conditions 
of the culture either better or worse. (10) 

This reflex operation of the moral upon the physical 
world is continually taking place before our eyes. The 
power of man upon the globe extends even to the 
change of its climates. Compare, in all respects, a virgin 
forest of America, a savannah, and a desert, when they 
have fallen into the hands of man, or when they have 
been deserted by him ; compare the soil under the foot 
of a savage horde and a civilised nation ; compare the 
same countries after some of the exterminating wars of 



PHYSICAL EVIL. 83 

antiquity, which left a solitude behind them (11), and 

after a long period of peace and prosperity And 

in individual life do we not constantly see man bring 
upon himself a premature old age, vitiating his powers 
and organs by abuse, and transmitting to his children 
decrepitude of his own creating ? (1£) 

The means of this re-action of the moral upon the 
physical world belong to the secret things of God : it 
would be dangerous to us to know them ; it is a secret 
analogous to that of free will, and which flows from it. 
But let us not doubt that whenever a nature has been 
prepared to serve for a certain phase of progress, it 
contains hidden resources, which come into operation 
whenever that progress ceases to be effected. (13) 

Light, warmth, and flames of fire existed in Eden ; 
but before the banishment, these flames had never sur- 
rounded the sword of an angel, or blazed at the forbidden 
threshold. 

It is again said to be impossible to form an idea of 
our world without scourges, without accidents, without 
power to hurt and to injure : granted, because it is 
impossible now to conceive life and the soul without 
moral evil, and it is precisely because moral evil and 
physical evil are so intimately connected, that the pre- 
sence of the latter prevents us from forming even an 
idea of the absence of the former. 

The accommodation of a world and its nature to a 
fallen state, after having served for the accomplishment 
of a progress, is only, in its simplest expression, one of 
the applications of that universal law of creation : as 
the being, so is the world. It is truly necessary that 
the habitation should be appropriate to the inhabitant ; 
heaven, for angels; hell, for evil spirits ; and for men, 
this mixed world — this world as it is. 

E 6 



84' ETERNAL PUNISHMENTS. 



CHAP. XXII. 



ETERNAL PUNISHMENTS. 



The same principles which explain physical evil as a 
consequence of moral evil, and which prove that man 
must have drawn with him in his fall the nature with 
which this world is clothed, serve also to explain what 
in religious language is called perdition, damnation, 
deprivation of the sight of God, of the face of God, 
of the glory of God. 

Activity, as we have proved, is continuous, and has 
before it only two alternatives, two directions, in which 
its responsibility is equally engaged and its destiny 
equally interested (14), that which draws nearer to, and 
that which withdraws from God. 

Existence, as we have already proved, is indefinitely 
prolonged. 

Perdition, then, is nothing but the fall prolonged 
hereafter ; it is the evil direction and withdrawal from 
God, extending beyond the actual phase of progress, 
when that progress has failed. 

Thus, by their very nature, punishments would be 
eternal. Perdition, we have said, is a prolonged fall ; 
and as the fall may be without end, as the two alter- 
natives are indefinite and unlimited, as evil may go on 
always increasing, perdition too must follow the same 
rule. 

In order to render an eternity of good, and of progress 
towards God, possible, it is necessary that there should 
be also an eternity of evil and of alienation from him. 
The one necessarily implies and cannot be conceived 
without the other. (Book I. Chap, xiv.) 



ETERNAL PUNISHMENTS. 85 

Between these two progressions (15) and these two 
eternities all creatures are placed. 

By these last observations we have just sounded the 
justice of God. According to ordinary religious lan- 
guage, God judges, punishes, and rewards. (16) The 
ideas of chastisement and reward, inapplicable to God, 
are however only one of the forms of that anthropomor- 
phism, of that error which attributes to God the pro- 
perties of man. The wicked punishes himself (17), 
and the faithful crowns himself, and the justice of God 
consists in the care taken by him, not to suffer this 
necessary order, one of the second causes, one of the 
constant laws of the moral universe to be inter- 
rupted. (18) Every progressive creature is necessarily 
endowed with sensitiveness ; it is necessary it should 
be able to relish its progress ; its sensitiveness is 
satisfied by its very progress : there is happiness ; if 
progress is missing, the faculty of enjoyment cannot 
be satisfied: there is misery and suffering. The 
forbidden fruit is agreeable to the eye and sweet 
to the taste ; but it is always bitter in the stomach. 
In all this, the part of God is only providence ; assuredly 
it suffices for his glory. (19) 

Every action, that is to say, every product of activity 
has consequences more or less direct, more or less 
distant, and the consequences are conformable to the 
action. 

Rewards and punishments are, then, to the two alter- 
natives of activity, what effects are to causes. 






86 BIRTH, LIFE, INFANCY, 

CHAP. XXIII. 

BIRTH, LIFE, INFANCY, DEATH, RESURRECTION. 

In order to individualise these principles it is suf- 
ficient to consider, that birth is the individual entrance 
into the phase of progress to which we belong. 

Life is the duration — the extent of our part of the 
phase of progress, which is common to us with our 
fellow-men. (20) 

Infancy, that fraction of life which is irresponsible 
and destitute of the feeling of individuality (21), was ne- 
cessary in virtue of the law of reciprocity ; it is by means 
of it that humanity becomes truly social ; it is through 
it the social compact is continuous, and becomes 
powerfully and constrainingly reciprocal. (22) 

Death in infancy, like infancy itself, is explained by 
the law of reciprocity, and by the principle of progress. 
When the cradle and the grave meet, this mourning is a 
means of progress (23), for the survivors ; and as to the 
infant itself, the brief appearance in this world is a 
proof of the fact, that it is reserved for another phase 
of progress. Development will take place elsewhere. 
Divine love will assume the functions of maternal love, 
and bring up the infant recalled from the present state 
of being. The infant, therefore, ought never to be the 
subject of lamentation. (24) 

Death, in fact, is the individual departure from our 
phase of progress and from the world, from the nature 
which has been assigned to it. (25) 

Death, then, is only a simple change in the conditions 
of existence, in the means of progress. (26) 

This change is both physically and morally the same, 



DEATH, RESURRECTION. 87 

as that which takes place from infancy to puberty, from 
adolescence to maturity, and from maturity to old age 
(27), and without doubt it is easier. 

Independent of the fall, death would have been the 
lot of humanity ; death, that is to say, departure from 
the midst of the nature accorded to the human species 
(28) ; but that departure would obviously have been 
very different for man without moral evil, and its con- 
comitant physical evil. (29) 

Now, there is suffering connected with birth, life, and 
death; because the world in which these individual facts 
take place, the nature with which these facts are asso- 
ciated, and from which death, the last of the three, 
delivers and separates us — this world and this nature, 
we say, have experienced the rebound of moral evil. 
This rebound has necessarily extended through all this 
phase, from its beginning to its end ; the entrance, the 
sojourn, and the departure have all been compromised ; 
the evil could not be partial. Do not therefore be sur- 
prised that birth and death are sufferings, that evil awaits 
us on the very threshold of life, and accompanies us to 
its close ; be not surprised that the first cry and the 
last adieu are symptoms of pain. In an atmosphere 
charged with mephitic vapours, we inhale the evil 
with the first breath and expire it in the last sigh. 

Beyond death, what happens in the first moment ? The 
resurrection ; in a spiritual sense it is only the entrance 
into that phase of progress which follows, and physically 
speaking, taking possession of the new organisation of 
which that phase stands in need. (30) 

Resurrection touches upon death, and follows it im- 
mediately, because activity is continuous, there is 
nothing, neither silence, sleep, nor interval between this 
life and the next. (31) 



88 END OF THE WORLD. 

The resurrection finds and takes us up where death 
has left us, either in the path of progress, or on the 
way of fall. (32) As the resurrection constitutes no 
part of the actual phase of progress, and as it belongs 
to another, it is not necessarily accompanied by suf- 
fering like birth, life and death. 



CHAP. XXIV. 

END OP THE WORLD. 

The same principles explain what is to be understood 
by the expressions and figures — end of the world, con- 
summation of ages. (33) Such methods of speaking 
designate the collective term of a phase of progress : 
what death is to individuals, the end of the world is to 
the whole species. 

The end of the world is merely the close of possible 
progress in a certain medium, and in the bosom of a cer- 
tain nature ; whence it follows, that the end of the world 
can only come on the exhaustion of the means of pro- 
gress which it furnishes. All worlds will, therefore, 
come to an end, each in its turn. Ours is still far from 
its utmost limit. In proportion, however, as mankind 
advances in the ages of which God permits it to dis- 
pose, we remark that matter is more and more brought 
into subjection to mind; every discovery is nothing 
more than a new empire gained by mind over the mate- 
rial world, which serves as an instrument of progress ; 
and we perceive confusedly in the distance the period 
in which all the powers and all the riches of nature 
shall be subdued and employed ; mankind would then 
no longer have here below any conquests to make, or 
labours to undertake ; all will be known, all will be 






END OF THE WORLD. 89 

applied ; and the existing nature will be eclipsed, and 
give way to a new phase of progress. 

This notion of the end of the world explains the 
reason why the period of its duration is so completely 
unknown, and the secret of the future so well kept. (34) 
In order to know when the world will come to an end, 
it would be necessary to foresee all the progress which 
humanity will still be able to make, and all the uses to 
which it will be able to apply the materials of nature : 
to foresee, would be to outrun them. (35) 

The end of the world, therefore, will not arrive till 
the moment of the last victory of mind over matter — 
of man over nature; and as the conqueror is neces- 
sarily present at his victory, it follows that the whole 
of a generation of human beings will be witnesses of 
the termination of our ages of discipline, of the general 
liquidation of our earthly affairs. 

A whole generation will be there ; not a family, a 
pair, an individual. Mankind may have commenced 
with a single pair ; it can only end with a generation, 
the full complement of its members. Two obvious 
considerations establish this. 

A whole generation is necessary to keep nature in 
subjection till the very close. 

Were mankind to come to an end by exhaustion, 
did the generative power go on continually diminishing 
in efficiency, so that in the last times the species was 
rapidly reduced in number, and at length came to a 
tribe, then a family, then a pair, and till finally a single 
man should survive, the last members of the race would 
be subjected to a destiny in contradiction to human 
tendencies, and their progress would be violently ar- 
rested and suspended. 

Death being the gate of transition from the world — 



90 OF PRAYER. 

from the nature which serves as the instrument of the 
existing phase of progress, it follows, from what has 
been said before, that in the very nature of things it 
must hold mankind under its dominion till the genera- 
tion preceding the last, and that the last will not be sub- 
ject to its power. Death is a phenomenon of nature, 
which will continue during this phase, but when nature 
comes to an end, death will have its end also. (36) 

The last generation, without passing through the 
portals of death, will enter by a resurrection ; that is 
to say, the organisation, become useless for the existing 
phase of progress, will be changed for a higher organi- 
sation, suited to the next phase of being. (37) 

The whole of this theory concerning the end of the 
world leads to this remarkable reflection, that, far from 
being a subject of sorrow and dread, that great day is 
the culminating point of the earthly destinies of man- 
kind ; a joy, and not an affliction ; a triumph, and not 
a disaster ; our release from matter ; our ascension to- 
wards heaven. (38) 



CHAP. XXV. 

OF PRAYER. 

The principle of progress, which admits no other model 
than God, in the departments of the universe, where 
freedom and the tendencies which it supposes reign — 
which recognises no other labour than earnest efforts 
to draw near to the Eternal, and no other happiness and 
no other reward than those of nearer approximation — 
this principle, this system, resolves, besides, one of the 
greatest and holiest problems of religion — that of 
prayer. 



OF PRAYER. 91 

There are two kinds of prayers; those which concern 
God, and those which concern ourselves. 

Prayers which affect God are praises ; those which 
concern man are wishes. 

The former are mere aspirations of the soul towards 
the Infinite ; an inward concentration, manifestations of 
the religious feelings, expressions of the religious 
thought, which renders glory or which offers thanks, 
that is to say, which yields itself up to effusions of ad- 
miration or of love. 

These prayers add no mystery, no problem, to the 
number of religious questions, because the providence 
of God and the free will of man are not brought into 
collision. 

The difficulties are removed by the prayers which 
specially concern ourselves, and which are wishes. 

In fact, according to the common notion, to pray is 
especially to ask. 

What can be the object of such petitions? 

Is it to ask God to cease to be immutable, to change 
his will, to reverse or overturn, every moment, the 
government of the universe, and to interrupt the laws 
which he has given, the free play of the powers which 
he has established ? 

Is it to ask that Providence should become ours, and 
conform to our ideas, to our desires, and to our regrets ? 
Such prayers can only be redeemed from blasphemy by 
virtue of the simplicity of their imprudence, by virtue 
of the sincerity of their error. 

This is to pray to God, as one petitions man ; it is 
pure anthropomorphism. 

For example, should any one have asked, in the phy- 
sical order of things, that the tower of Siloam should 






92 OF PRAYER. 

is recorded in the Gospel ? This would have been to 
pray that the laws of universal gravitation, which main- 
tains the suns in their places, and the planets in their 
orbits, should be interrupted for our advantage. 

Shall any one, in the spiritual order of things, ask 
for sufficient powers and fit occasions for the accom- 
plishment of his task ? How can we imagine that God 
ever refuses such means? Our transgressions would 
be his fault ; he could so little make them a reproach 
to us, that we would have the right to impute them to 
him. (39) 

To pray, therefore, is much more than to ask ; and 
it is because prayer is not asking that it is so difficult 
to pray ; for to petition is easy. A vague and secret 
disquiet, an irresistible lingering doubt, intimates to 
the most ingenuous and candid piety, that a prayer, 
which both in its essence and its form is summed up in 
a petition, is a prayer falsely conceived ; and hence it 
comes, that prayers so conceived only soar for a moment 
towards heaven, sink and return rapidly to the level of 
the earth, and are extinguished in the destruction of 
mere worldly things. 

He who prays, speaks with God. The creature con- 
verses with the Creator ; the finite being speaks, the 
Infinite responds ; the aspiration towards God shoots 
up, rapid as the thought of which it is the result ; it 
reaches the throne of the Infinite ; and, descending from 
him, bears with it its own response, and makes it 
vibrate in the very depths of the soul. 

In this we see the reason why each values his own 
prayers ; as each alone is able to understand the re- 
sponse, each feels and knows what his prayers bring 
and produce ; but he alone knows it. 

In this, again, we see why mental prayers, that is, 



OF PRAYER. 93 

thoughts embodied in words to give distinctness and 
precision to the idea, but without the incumbrance of 
their expression, are the best ; articulate language 
(whose weakness we shall subsequently examine) is by 
far too powerless and, indeed, useless in our communion 
with God. (40) 

In this, still further, we see why short prayers are 
the best ; the more solemn and fervent converse is, the 
more it loses by unsuitable prolongation. The extreme 
brevity of the Lord's Prayer is a divine justification of 
this remark. (41) 

But, in the case of a being whose legitimate calling 
is to aspire more and more to resemble God himself, 
and whose faculties have no other use, converse with 
God must serve to bring and keep his will, his thoughts, 
and his nature, in more regular, more intimate, and 
more complete harmony with the will, the thoughts, 
and the nature of God himself. 

Consequently to pray is to acquiesce ; the essence of 
all prayer ought to be acquiescence, and the fruits of 
prayer an accord between the will and purposes of God, 
and our will and purposes. (42) 

By an obvious application, it is easy to understand 
how prayer assumes the form of desire or wish, which 
is that of the Lord's prayer. 

We would not pray if we had not a will ; a wish is 
the expression of our will ; in prayer our will goes 
forth to meet and commune with the will of the Su- 
preme, and prayer has attained its object when this 
fusion takes place, and subordination and acquiescence 
are manifested. Prayer is, therefore, the point of union 
between the two wills. 

This definition explains in detail all the effects of 
prayer (43) ; it explains how prayer consoles — to 



94 OF PRAYER. 

acquiesce is to resign oneself to God ; how prayer 
strengthens — to acquiesce is to trust in ; how prayer lifts 
up and reassures — to acquiesce is to hope ; and hope is 
nothing but the presentiment that the two wills, that 
of God and of his worshipper, and servant shall be in 
accord for the future ; how prayer calms — to acquiesce 
is to have come to a decision, if it concerns devotedness — - 
and to have made up one's mind, if it is a question of 
sacrifice, and nothing calms so much as resolutions 
taken; how prayer fills with joy — to acquiesce in the 
will of Grod is to acquiesce in that which is most happy; 
in a word, this definition explains how prayer sanctifies 
and renews, for what is there better than the will of 
God, which by converse with God becomes ours ? 
Prayer, in fact, always issues in proving, maintaining, and 
facilitating the accord of our will with that of God, or 
if there be a divergence, in substituting for our imper- 
fect will the perfect will of the Lord. (44) 

A concluding remark will serve to show, how correct 
it is to see in prayer the expression of our will, — that is, 
a petition ; but also and above all, the complete abandon- 
ment, if necessary, of our own will, — that is, acquiescence : 
granted or not, prayers produce the same fruits ; the 
result of prayer is independent of the accomplishment 
of the wish which it expresses ; petition is merely the 
form, the essence is acquiescence. 

Direct or indirect, offered for oneself or others, prayer 
never changes either its nature, form, or value. 

When indirect prayers or intercession for others are 
offered without their knowledge, or without their parti- 
cipation, they are merely direct, and only profit those 
by whom they are offered up. (45) Can our prayers 
render God kinder to those whom we love ? 

When the prayer of intercession is offered up at the 



OF PRAYER. 95 

request, or at least with the knowledge of him, whom it 
concerns, it profits both him who prays and him for 
whom prayer is made, in so far that the accord of wills 
is triple. These common prayers are the effusions of 
human wills in accord with one another, desiring to 
be in accord with that of God. Consequently, the more 
prayers are made in a full conformity of trustfulness and 
desire, the more intercession is powerful, the effects salu- 
tary, and the fervour sustained, — the more abundant and 
precious are the fruits which a whole multitude, become 
one heart and one soul, will derive from the exercise. (46) 

The impressive and useful ardour of prayers in 
public worship is a proof of the justice of these remarks. 

A cursory examination of the most celebrated prayers 
would always furnish a demonstration of this theory. 

The holiest of all personal prayers, which has been 
ever raised from earth to heaven, is, Father all things are 
possible unto thee ; take away this cup from me : never- 
theless, not what I will, but as thou wilt. 

Here the three elements are distinctly combined in 
prayer : a will, the wish by which it is expressed, and 
the acquiescence which renders it at once perfect and 
happy. 

Examine the prayer of David for his child struck 
down with disease. The new-born child could not even 
know that the great monarch had covered himself with 
sackcloth and ashes for its sake and prayed for its 
deliverance ; the father's prayer was therefore useless to 
the child. But what sublime fruits of resignation, 
constancy, and consolation did not David himself derive 
from prostration before God ? And why ? Because his 
prayer was embodied in a perfect acquiescence. 

What were really the wishes of St. Paul at the time 
when he was a captive in Rome, and requested the 



96 OF PRAYER. 

prayers of his beloved church at Philippi ? His desire 
was, that all hearts should be brought into unison with his ; 
his desire was, to commingle and steep the whole power 
of his will in their brotherly wills allied to his own ; by 
this union he would justify his own at the tribunal of 
his conscience and faith, and before God; he would 
express himself with so much the greater confidence, 
security, and hope ; he would more easily bring himself to 
accord with the multitude of his true friends and true 
disciples, and (to return to the common language of piety) 
if his prayers were not granted, his will would be more 
easily subordinated to the divine will, to which that of 
the whole church at the same time placed itself in a 
state of acquiescence. 

At the bottom of these thoughts, is to be found the 
principle, that we are absolutely dependent and destitute, 
which is only an aspect of the relation of the creature 
to the Creator (47) ; we may however feel dependence 
without acquiescence (48) : thus a prayer without ac- 
quiescence is a revolt against God, and the essence of 
prayer is not the certainty of dependence, but the ready 
and willing consent to be dependent. 

From all the foregoing considerations, it follows, 
finally, that the problem of prayer, is but one point 
of view of the fundamental mystery of religion, the 
withdrawal of the divine activity, to give free scope to 
created activity. If the two activities were absolutely 
enchained to one another, if their accord were invariable, 
fated, and irresistible, acquiescence would be bondage ; 
it is the independence of the will which constitutes the 
value of acquiescence, and the mystery of prayer is no 
other than the mystery of free will. (49) 






PHENOMENA OF SLEEP. 97 

CHAP. XXVI. 

PHENOMENA OF SLEEP. 

A great light is thrown -upon all the remarks which 
have already been made, by an important phenomenon 
of our present state of existence, of which we have only 
yet been able to say a word, in treating of activity ; this 
phenomenon is sleep. 

Prayer itself is interested in this question ; we shall 
see hereafter that we can only hold converse with God, 
whilst awake, although God has sometimes responded 
to men both in their waking hours and during sleep. 

Considered from the point of view of genuine Chris- 
tianity, sleep is a sort of anticipation of a future and 
better phase of progress. This may be established by 
four obvious considerations ; to speak more correctly, 
as soon as sleep comes on, four chains heavy to drag, 
and which we always do drag when awake, gently fall 
away and leave us in a state of anticipated freedom. 

I. The human being, self, in a state of sleep is freed 
from the notion of time ; man is no longer sensible of its 
progress or flight ; he thinks, he loves, he rejoices, he 
contemplates (in the religious sense of the word), without 
any perception of the necessity of time here below, for 
all things ; neither duration nor succession any longer 
retard or stop him. "Who has not dreamt of the future ? 
and when we dream of the future, it is present, it 
seems present, it becomes present. 

II. Sleep with equal power frees us from the notion 
of space. In this condition of self, space no longer 
exists ; remoteness loses all distance, as duration loses 
succession. Who has not dreamt of being elsewhere ? 
and when we are transported in dreams to other places, 

F 



98 PHENOMENA OF SLEEP. 

whatever they may be, the soul believes itself to be 
there, because the imagination is there. Immensity is 
thus at the disposal of him who sleeps. 

III. In sleep, the soul is freed from the body and is 
no longer sensible of its existence ; self, for the moment, 
is free from its corporeal organs ; the subjective so 
completely rules the personal objective as to be uncon- 
scious of its presence. This occurs in its most striking 
form in somnambulism, which is nothing more than an 
intense dream. In order to recover the notion of our 
body, we must awake. 

IV. Sleep is more powerful than death, and bears us 
a while, in idea, out of its sad empire. Who has not 
dreamt that some beloved friend, dead for years, was 
still alive ? and even when this dream is prolonged, it 
acts with such power that the idea of death is completely 
absent from the mind ; frequently this idea only returns 
with waking. 

This imaginary and momentary liberation which we 
owe to sleep, becomes more lucid and complete, in 
proportion as the state of dreaming, and consequently 
of sleep, is more perfect. It in no respect affects the 
justice of our conclusions, that these brief periods of 
emancipation during dreams do not occur on every 
occasion of sleep, or at least that we have not always a 
consciousness of them on waking. It remains nothing 
the less certain to experience, that time, space, body, 
and death hold us as it were in subjection during waking, 
and that during sleep imagination delivers us from 
the bondage they impose. 

Sleep and dreaming are universal facts on the globe, 
common to animals and men ; this point of resemblance 
is a confirmation of our views on the present and future 
existence of animals. 






PHENOMENA OF SLEEP. 99 

Activity during sleep, as has been observed, out-runs 
the phase of progress in which we are, and consequently 
passes beyond the conditions imposed upon human pro- 
gress on this earth ; this activity consequently does 
not humanly serve to promote progress, and has never 
served for that purpose, unless exceptionally as a 
Divine dispensation. 

No one becomes more moral or enlightened during 
sleep ; and whatever alternative activity may follow 
during sleep, it causes the conscience neither joy nor 
regret ; remorse applies only to the doings of our waking 
hours. 

A careful examination of the differences of activity, 
in the state of waking and the state of dreaming, leads 
to another consequence which it is important to 
mark. 

In dreams activity sometimes reaches its full con- 
tentment, and then the sensitive tendencies, on their 
part, are perfectly satisfied ; there is happiness. Who has 
not been perfectly happy in his dreams ? Misery and 
pain only recommence on waking. (50) 

This proves that activity during sleep, if it does not 
promote our progress, does not retard it ; then the 
sensitive tendency, for a moment, attains to a complete 
satisfaction : a thing only possible, in this world, in a 
state of the soul in which the rights of conscience are 
in abeyance. 

These emancipations from our existing bondage — 
these full and inward momentary joys which often result 
from dreams, are phenomena of mind, the more re- 
markable as the transition from waking to sleep is im- 
perceptible and insensible, and that the former of these 
states of the soul exercises an indisputable influence 
over the latter. (51) (See Book IV. Chap, xliv.) 

f 2 



100 DISTRACTION OF MIND, 

CHAP. XXVII. 

EFFECTS OF DISTRACTION OF MIND. 

This momentary exemption from terrestrial bonds, 
this momentary escape from the restraints of time, space, 
matter, and death, is not limited to the state of sleep, 
but sometimes occurs during waking. What are called 
mental distractions and reveries produce this effect. 

Periods of distraction are interruptions of the general 
and usual occupations of the mind, and the intensity 
of a special and circumscribed engagement of its powers. 
The mind is then directed with a fixed intensity to a 
particular point, and becomes dazzled, as the eye is 
dazzled by looking at a very brilliant light, or by resting 
too long on the same object ; great distractions are only 
small reveries, and the notions of distance, the flight of 
time, the attitude of the body, and separations by death 
all disappear. 

Reveries are dreams of the waking condition, and are 
distinguished from dreams during sleep in one respect 
alone ; the mind being more free when the senses are 
not buried in repose, exercises a greater influence over 
reveries, than over dreams. This power is so consider- 
able, that we can, especially if we acquire the habit, 
voluntarily effect a reverie, whilst it is very difficult, if 
it ever be possible, to insure a dream. Reveries therefore 
are merely long distractions, with this difference that a 
moment of distraction passes rapidly and the mind is 
occupied only with a single idea, whilst a reverie always 
embraces a whole chain of ideas in their natural succes- 
sion ; and it is the transition from one idea to another 
which marks the limit between a distraction and a 
reverie. 






ECSTASY AND POESY. 101 

The non-spontaneity of dreams in sleep and the spon- 
taneity of reveries in a state of waking are made obvious 
by the impressions which are their results ; conscience, 
as has been said, feels no remorse in consequence of 
dreams, but on the contrary reveries often furnish matters 
of reproach. The obvious reason is that in dreams the 
will is wholly powerless ; in reveries it yields itself up. 

Reveries, in proportion as they are profound, procure 
to our souls the same enjoyments of freedom — the tem- 
porary suppressions in idea of time, space, our bodies 
and death. 

It is, in fact, in these very moments of emancipation, 
always instinctively and unconsciously desired that both 
the charm and the danger of reveries consist. Inasmuch as 
every thing is suspended, so is labour, duty, and progress. 

Corporeal excitements lead to reveries — to mental 
excitements, and then the effects just indicated are repro- 
duced. The various kinds of intoxication produced by 
the use of spirituous liquors and narcotics, throw the 
soul, with violence and disorder, into an analogous kind 
of independence. Another existence is substituted for 
ordinary life ; and time, space, the body, and death 
always disappear. There have been known, howevei 
strange and frightful, unhappy persons inebriated neai 
a corpse mistake it for a living being. 

CHAP. XXVIII. 

ECSTASY AND POESY. 

The conditions of holy contemplation, of rapture, ecstasy, 
illumination, and enthusiasm belong to the same class 
of phenomena, these are simply ardent and profound 
reveries in which the soul directs its powers in their 
intensity to religious things ; these are modes of being 

F 3 



102 ECSTASY AND FOESY. 

for a season without and beyond the normal and 
universal conditions of our phase of progress ; they are 
always, if we may so say, escapes of the soul from its 
present bondage, and in these intervals of irregular 
spiritual excitement time is no more, space has no 
extension (52), the body ceases to feel (53) and death 
to separate. 

In all states of the soul, from the tranquil reverie of 
the idle, whom his indolence gradually leads to indulge 
in this condition, from the brutal insanity of intoxication 
from opium to the complete immobility of ecstatic con- 
templation, to the transports of the most exalted 
religious enthusiasm, in all these states of the soul there 
is a moment when the action of the will ceases. The 
flight is taken, and the soul darts onward till it reaches 
the object of its aim. In its phrenzy, it thus voluntarily 
places its moral power in a state of suspense ; conscience, 
so to speak, is left behind ; it cannot follow so quick, 
as to direct the activity of the soul ; and it is in such 
moments of abandonment, that this activity by a single 
bound and without control reaches the point of heroism 
or crime ; heroism, if the ecstatic direction has been 
good ; crime, if the point of departure has been evil. 

The precise moment at which in enthusiastic ecstasy 
and illumination, the moral power ceases, it is impos- 
sible to discover ; but it exists, and it is not impossible 
to prove that, however rapidly the soul reaches this 
sublime condition, it never attains it, except by insensible 
degrees. 

Human responsibility is in no respect compromised, 
and it furnishes no better justification for evil to say, I 
was in a state of ecstasy, than it does for inordinate 
passion to plead anger. The starting-point, the com- 
mencement, is always entirely under the control of the 



ECSTASY AND POESY. 103 

moral principle — the action of the will; and it is every 
man's affair to take care where he goes. 

It is very possible that men whose religious and 
political fanaticism has led them to be guilty of the 
most flagrant crimes, even to commit murder, may not 
have been conscious of what they did when raising the 
dagger to inflict the blow; but the blade was not 
whetted in an instant ; and whilst preparing it for the 
work, they well knew for what end. 

Whence it happens that these states of the soul, 
whether simple reveries or the most intense ecstasies, 
differ in this respect from dreams, and either may, or 
may not, be instrumental to progress. Activity may be 
manifested either in the good or evil alternative, either in 
drawing nearer to God, or withdrawing from him. The 
mind issues from such conditions either better or worse, 
and returns either with gain or loss to the ordinary 
means and duties of life. 

We may be encouraged in a good work by suffering 
ourselves to fall into a delightful reverie upon the joys, 
the consolations, or the surprise, which will be its result ; 
we are encouraged to evil by dreaming on its means 
and effects ; who does not know how much enthusiasm 
contributes to religious progress (54), and how often 
it has made heroes, liberators, and martyrs ; but who, 
alas ! does not also know how often it has converted 
men into murderers and executioners. 

All our tendencies may be raised to a state of ecstasy ; 
but some reach this elevation more easily than others, and 
find themselves in a more congenial element. The order 
of ecstatic facility is sensitiveness, the affections, — re- 
ligiousness. 

The last is obviously that most favourable to the 

F 4 



104 ECSTASY AND POESY. 






extreme development of the faculties of the soul and 
which maintains it for the longest time. 

The understanding is the power least accessible to 
this influence ; but when it succeeds in mounting to 
enthusiasm, the fruit which it produces is poetry ; a 
consideration which explains the reason why true poets 
are so rare. 

It must be, in fact, that the understanding to which 
time and space are necessary as the framework of 
thought, as natural conditions of progress, to which the 
body is necessary as an instrument of relations and study, 
and which is accustomed coolly to reflect upon death 
as a scientific and physiological necessity ; it must be that 
the understanding should experience the greatest diffi- 
culty in attaining such a degree of enthusiasm as to 
involve forge tfulness of time and space, of body and 
death, and to be carried altogether out of its accus- 
tomed situation. 

Poetry, then, is merely the expression of the under- 
standing, become enthusiastic ; whence it follows that 
poetry is the favourite language of religion. 

There is another very curious relation between a 
state of sleep and that of rapture or enthusiasm, the 
contentment of our sensitive powers. As the soul is 
sometimes happy in dreams, so is it also sometimes 
happy in ecstasy. 

This proves that ecstasy is always taken for progress 
by him who is under its influence. 



105 



NOTES TO BOOK II. 






(1.) Space, extent, distance, do not exist for God. " Am I a 
God at hand, saith the Lord, and not a God afar off?" 
£er. xxiii. 23. 

(2.) Time does not exist for God, He " which is, which was, 
and which is to come," Rev. i. 4. ; and to whom consequently 
these three divisions of existence are equal, equally present, 
equally known ; while the creature knows not " what shall be on 
the morrow." James, iv. 14. "Are thy days as the days of 
man ? are thy years as man's days ? " Job, x. 5. " Mine age is 
as nothing before thee." Ps. xxxix. 5. The sense of this re- 
markable verse is, that the short life of man is to the Eternal 
Being as if it were not. After having given to Israel the mag- 
nificent definition of the Infinite Being, « I AM THAT I AM," 
Ex. iii. 14., it was worthy of Moses to teach, in the beautiful 
poem composed in his old age, that all length of time is in some 
manner annihilated before God : " For a thousand years in thy 
sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the 
night." Ps. xc. 4. 

This complete assimilation of two periods of duration which to 
us appear so unequal, implies the negation of time. The same 
thought is expressed by St. Paul : " God calleth those things 
which be not, as though they were ;' Rom. iv. 17. ; thus all the 
works of creation, all the works of God, successive to us, are 
simultaneous to Him. 

Hence it results that all the texts containing the word or idea 
of foreknowledge : " Him (Jesus) being delivered by the de- 
terminate counsel and foreknowledge of God ; Acts, ii. 23. ; 
"elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father;" 
1 Peter i. 2; or of predestination: " For whom he did foreknow, 
he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his 
son ; " Rom. viii. 2Q ; " Having predestinated us unto the 
adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the 
good pleasure of his will ;" Eph. i. 5 ; all the texts which re- 
present the new covenant and its grace as divine intentions pre- 

f 5 



106 NOTES TO BOOK It* 

viously decreed; "Who (Christ) verily was foreordained; " 1 Peter 
i. 20 ; " According as he hath chosen us in him before the 
foundation of the world/' Eph. i. 4 ; "The eternal purpose which 
he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord : " iii. 11;" Even the 
mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, 
but now is made manifest to his saints ;" Col. i. 26; "According 
to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ 
Jesus before the world began ; " 2 Tim. i. 9 ; " I n hope of 
eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world 
began," Titus, i. 2 : all these, and similar expressions, which 
unite the ideas of God and time, are but human ideas applied to 
God, and add absolutely nothing to the mysteries of free will 
(see chap, xi.), and of the origin of evil (chap. xiii.). " Known 
unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world." 
Acts, xv. 18. 

In accordance with this great principle that time, succession, 
does not exist for God ; that to him all is simultaneous, we find 
the beautiful words of the sacred poet, which so well express the 
instantaneousness of divine knowledge : (i For there is not a word 
in my tongue, but lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether ;" Psalm 
cxxxix. 4 ; and of divine power : " He sendeth forth his com- 
mandment upon earth : his word runneth very swiftly" (it is 
instantly accomplished), cxlvii. 15. 

Thus, divine activity has eternity for its field ; but for ours, 
" Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof." Matt. vi. 34. 
(See Book IV. Chap. xlix. note 57.) 

(3.) " And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of 
every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat." Gen. ii. l6\ 
This text is a permission to improve and cultivate nature : " And 
lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the 
sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of heaven, 
shouldest be driven to worship them, and serve them, which the 
Lord thy God hath divided unto all nations under the whole 
heaven." Deut. iv. 19- " The Lord that created the heavens, 
God himself that formed the earth, and made it, he hath esta- 
blished it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited." 
Isaiah, xlv. 18. " The heaven, even the heavens, are the Lord's ; 
but the earth hath he given to the children of men." Psalm cxv. 

16. 

This right of employing all things for his own use is only one 
of the aspects of the superiority and domination of man (see 
Book I. Chap. v. note 19) ; and we know that the Hebrews, 
whose simple astronomy represented the earth as the centre of the 
universe, admitted the idea that the stars had been created for it. 
(See Book IV. Chap. xlvi. note 30.) 



NOTES TO BOOK II. 107 

(4.) Revelation declares the fixity of the actual order of things 
in our planet. " While the earth remaineth, seed time and har- 
vest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and 
night shall not cease." Gen. viii. 22. ll He hath compassed the 
waters with bounds, until the day and night come to an end," 
(God hath traced in the heavens the bounds or the regular return 
of day and night). Job, xxvi. 10. " Who laid the foundations 
of the earth, that it should not be removed for ever." Psalm 
civ. 5. 

(5.) " In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth," 
Gen. i. 1 : the primordial creation of the universe. " The earth 
(our globe) was without form (without organised bodies) and 
void (without animated beings — chaos, or an intermediate epoch). 
And God said, Let there be light : and there was light." Gen. 
i. 3 : the commencement of a new order of things, the preparation 
of our planet for a new phase of progress. The geological epochs 
succeeded each other ; the human er^och was the last ; man was 
the last, the crowning work of God's works of creation on the 
earth ,* and it is essential to remark here, that Moses nowhere 
assigns an age to the globe. 

(6.) " And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden ; 
and there he put the man whom he had formed." Gen. ii. 8. 
" Garden of the Lord" was an expression applied to a delicious 
and fertile country, Gen. xiii. 10 : and was an image which the 
prophets continued to employ ; Isaiah, li. 3 ; Joel, ii. 3 ; Ezek. 
xxxvi. 35 ; Ezekiel even makes use of it to express the splendour 
and delights of Tyre, xxviii. 13. Hence the word paradise, a 
word whose etymology is doubtful, but its sense certain, sig- 
nifies garden, and became a popular expression employed to 
designate heaven, the dwelling-place of angels, of just men, of 
happy spirits. Jesus, whose presence of mind was ever ready, 
even amidst the horrors of crucifixion, uses this term in addressing 
the repentant malefactor, doubtless a man of humble station, 
whom it was most fitting to address in the simplest language : 
Ci To-day shalt thou be with me in paradise." Luke, xxiii. 43. 

(7-) The fall, related in Gen. iii. 1 — 6, brings into action, 
under the veil of an allegory, the three fundamental passions, the 
sources of all sin : the passion of independence ; that is, the dis- 
like to obey, the ardent desire to act according to the inclinations, 
and without control, the tendency to revolt : te Yea," said the 
serpent, (i hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the 
garden : " the passion of pride ; that is, the desire of change, of 
rising, of becoming greater, of arriving at something above what 
we are, what we have : " Ye shall be as gods, knowing good and 

F 6 



108 NOTES TO BOOK II. 

evil :" and the passion of sensuality, " the fleshly lusts" which, 
according to the energetic expression of the Gospel, " war against 
the soul ; " 1 Peter, ii. 1 1 ; the tendency to all voluptuousness : 
" the tree was (appeared) good for food (and) pleasant to the 
eyes." He who does not recognise moral evil in this picture, is 
but ill acquainted with the world, and with his own heart. It is 
no longer doubted that this narrative is allegorical ; and we go 
still farther, it was fitting that it should be so ; an exact analysis 
of the passions was impossible in the new-born experience of the 
first ages, and with the scarcely formed idiom of the first men. 
Not one of us could succeed in relating, in a precise and positive 
manner, how evil commenced in his own heart ; not one of us 
could give a circumstantial narrative of the first bad intentions, 
the first bad thoughts of his mind. It is with mankind in general 
as with every individual man ; in order to relate the origin of 
evil it was necessary, not to seek out and collect individual anec- 
dotes, but to present the fact in an emblematic picture, on which 
St. Paul has commented in words so simple, yet of such vast 
meaning : i( by one man sin entered into the world." Rom. v. 12. 
Thenceforth commenced the struggle between evil and mankind, 
the war between ( ' the seed of the serpent ; " that is, the conti- 
nuation, the imitation, the heirship of evil, of which the serpent 
is the emblem, and " the seed of the woman," that is, all genera- 
tions of mankind. Gen. iii. 15. " For to will is present with 
me, but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the 
good that I would I do not ; but the evil which I would not, 
that I do." Rom. vii. 18, 19. "And these (the flesh and the 
spirit) are contrary the one to the other, so that ye cannot do the 
things that ye w T ould." Gal. v. 17. 

(8.) " By the offence of one judgment came upon all men to 
condemnation ; ... by one man's disobedience many were made 
sinners." Rom. v. 18, 19- " That which is born of the flesh is 
flesh."- John, iii. 6. tf Who can bring a clean thing out of an 
unclean ? not one." Job, xiv. 4. " For in many things we offend 
all." James, iii. 2. " If we say that we have no sin, we deceive 
ourselves, and the truth is not in us." 1 John, i. 8. 

What change then does this whole doctrine make in the system 
everywhere taught in the Bible, that each individual is alone 
responsible for himself ? Absolutely none. We are all the 
children of sinners : this is our lot, and we suffer it in virtue of 
the law of hereditary reciprocity. We are sinners ourselves : 
this is our fault, and involves our responsibility ; and in this 
there is no injustice, seeing that every thing will be weighed in 
the balance, the disadvantage of the fall of our forefathers in- 



NOTES TO BOOK II. 109 

eluded. Such is the positive doctrine of St. Paul, who, after 
having said that by one man sin and death entered the world, and 
that death " passed upon all men," adds, " for that all have 
sinned." Rom. v. 12. It has been clearly proved that the Greek 
preposition must here be translated for that, or because, and not 
in whom, which would express no sense ; for what is to sin in 
others ? Man can only sin in himself : sin is either a subjective 
fact, or it is none. 

(9.) "Thou shalt surely die." Gen. ii. 17. This passage is 
a denunciation against Adam of death as we know it, as the only 
and inevitable way of departure from the present life. The sense 
is : Thou shalt only be able to pass from thine earthly to thine 
immortal life through death. This view of the expression is 
confirmed by the fact that Adam and Eve were not struck with 
death immediately after their fall, which should have been the case 
were the apparent sense the true one. The question how man, 
if he had remained as God created him, if he had followed the 
path of progress in which he was originally placed, would have 
passed from this existence to the next is an idle one, because it 
contains nothing subjective. (See Book II., Chap, xxin., note 
29 ; and Chap, xxiv., note 37.) 

Another idea, not less important, is explicitly contained in this 
denunciation of the death known to us, viz., that by going farther 
from God, by corrupting his higher nature, man had descended 
towards a lower nature, towards the existence of the brute creation. 
Adam had never witnessed the death of a man ; he was only 
acquainted with the phenomena of death by that of the animals, 
whose skins were made use of for his first clothing, Gen. iii. 21 ; 
and to say to him " Thou shalt surely die," was to announce to 
him that the way of departure from this world had become com- 
mon to him with the animals, whose master he was. The sen- 
tence of condemnation as regards this life is more explicit : to 
the woman it is said, " I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and 
thy conception ; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children ; and 
thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee : " 
and to the man, " Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of 
thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree of which I commanded thee, 
saying, Thou shalt not eat of it, cursed is the ground for thy 
sake ... In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou 
return unto the ground ; for out of it wast thou taken." Gen. 
iii. 16 — 19. This entire phase of life, from birth to death, and 
the nature, which was destined to serve it, was at once condemned, 
or in other words vitiated. The images in this narrative are 
borrowed from agricultural life, and the "curse of the ground" 



110 NOTES TO BOOK II. 

expresses the idea of a comparative sterility, and a laborious 
cultivation. The emblematic language is not inconsistent, and 
as agriculture here expresses the whole of human activity, so the 
fertility of the soil represents the whole culture and improvement 
of nature, everywhere become difficult and laborious to fallen 
man. 

Two very remarkable circumstances still remain to be noticed, 
the divine sentence pronounced upon the two sexes, different 
during their lives, but similar as regards their deaths ; because 
the destiny of their lives differed, but their deaths could not be 
otherwise than the same. 

And lastly, the relations of the two sexes experienced some 
change : before the invasion of evil, all was love ; after it, love 
still remained, but there was rule on one part, and subjection on 
the other. 

(10.) The accidents of physical evil, infinitely varied from 
the commencement of this life till its termination, strike indis- 
criminately : (i Many are the afflictions of the righteous." Psalm 
xxxiv. 19. u All things come alike to all." Ecc. ix. 2. "Where- 
fore is light given to him that is in misery, and life unto the 
bitter in soul ? " Job. iii. 20. Jesus says to his disciples, " Or 
those eighteen upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew 
them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt 
in Jerusalem ? " Luke, xiii. 4 ; and when the apostles ask him, 
Cf Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born 
blind ? " he replies, " Neither hath this man sinned, nor his 
parents ; but that the works of God should be made manifest in 
him." John, ix. 3. Again, God " maketh his sun to rise on the 
evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the 
unjust." Matt. v. 45. 

The varieties of death, like those of life, are ruled by this 
principle, that physical evil strikes indiscriminately — not as a 
punishment, but as a trial, as a heritage — the good and the 
wicked, and on the last day of an earthly pilgrimage as on the 
others. It may sometimes happen " that there be just men, unto 
whom it happeneth according to the work of the wicked : again, 
there be wicked men, to whom it happeneth according to the work 
of the righteous." Ecc. viii. 14. " There is a just man that 
perisheth in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man that 
prolongeth his life in his wickedness." vii. 15. 

(11.) Isaiah makes the astonished witnesses of the fall of 
Nebuchadnezzar exclaim, Ci Is this the man that made the world 
as a wilderness ?" Isaiah, xiv. 16, 17- 

(12.) It is the righteous whom the Psalmist compares to palm 



NOTES TO BOOK II. Ill 

trees, to cedars flourishing in "the courts of God," and bringing 
"forth fruit in old age." Psalm xcii. 14. 

(13.) A powerful and mysterious analogy indicates the bond 
of connection between moral and physical evil : although the 
ills and accidents of the present life fall indiscriminately on the 
righteous and on the froward, yet it is indisputable that physical 
evil often furnishes divine justice with direct chastisements with 
which to punish sinners : it is indisputable that intemperance, 
dissoluteness, slothfulness, and sometimes anger, produce their 
own punishments : it is indisputable that, in virtue of the law 
of social compact, these effects are sometimes hereditary in a sad 
degree. But more than this : as soon as theocracy appears, 
physical evil immediately appears also, as the regular instrument 
of its vengeance, and it is very remarkable that this observation 
is verified, not only in every page of the Old Testament, espe- 
cially after the time of Abraham, but during the short duration 
of the Christian theocracy, during the period of inspiration, when 
Christianity was founded. This is true of diseases, mortal or 
otherwise, of mourning and death. St. Paul, after reproaching 
the Corinthians with their profanation of the Lord's Supper, adds : 
" For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many- 
sleep" (are dead), 1 Cor. xi. 30 ; and of the Jezebel of Thyatira 
it is said : " I gave her space to repent of her fornication, and 
she repented not. Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them 
that commit adultery with her into great tribulation . . . and I 
will kill her children with death." Rev. ii. 21 — 23. 

Physical evils could not thus be dispensed and divided into theo- 
cratic views, except trials of all sorts, persecutions included, were 
comprehended under the same rule : and St. Peter says : " For 
the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God : 
and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that 
obey not the Gospel of God?" 1 Peter, iv. 17. (See Book IV. 
Chap. i. and the notes.) 

(14.) "And the Lord said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? 
and why is thy countenance fallen ? If thou doest well, shalt 
thou not be accepted (recompensed) ? and if thou doest not well, 
sin lieth at the door." Gen. iv. 6, 7- • . • " that every one 
may receive the things done in his body, according to that he 
hath done, whether it be good or bad." 2 Cor. v. 10. 

(15.) The unlimited and indefinite progression of evil is clearly 
indicated in the gloomy images of this parable : " When the un- 
clean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, 
seeking rest, and findeth none. Then he saith, I will return into 
my house from whence I came out ; and when he is come, he 



112 NOTES TO BOOK II. 

findeth it empty, swept, and garnished. Then goeth he, and 
taketh with himself seven (several) other spirits more wicked than 
himself, and they enter in and dwell there : and the last state of 
that man is worse than the first." It is evident that an increase 
of iniquity, and not of misfortunes, is here spoken of, for Jesus 
adds: "Even so shall it he also unto this wicked generation." 
Matt. xii. 43. 45. The whole connection of ideas confirms this 
sense. Jesus has just been reproaching the Jews for exacting a 
miracle from him before they would believe, and the strength of 
the censure contained in the parable lies in this idea : should I 
work a miracle in order to make you have faith in me, in order 
to expel the demon of incredulity from your hearts, it would 
return to them by some other way, and you would be worse than 
before. 

The progression of misfortune follows that of sin : " Sin no 
more," said Jesus to the impotent man of Bethesda, " lest a 
worse thing come unto thee." John, v. 14. (On the progression 
of good, see Book I. Chap. xv. note 57.) 

(16.) Christ is represented, in the figurative language of the 
Gospel, as a human magistrate : (( we shall all stand before the 
judgment-seat of Christ; " Rom. xiv. 10 ; 2 Cor. v. 10 ; where 
(e we have an Advocate with the father ; " 1 John, ii. 1 j "as a 
king upon his throne ; " Matt. xxv. 40 ; as the judge of the 
games of the circus, awarding the crown from the extremity of 
the arena : " ... a crown of righteousness which the Lord, 
the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day." 2 Tim. iv. 8. 

(J 7.) The wicked man, by the nature of things, is often 
punished in this world, and inevitably in the next : " The wicked 
travaileth with pain all his days." Job, xv. 20. " For the work 
of a man shall he render unto him, and cause every man to find 
according to his ways." Job, xxxiv. 11. ' ' Thus God rendered 
the wickedness of Abimelech . . . and all the evil of the men 
of Shechem did God render upon their heads." Judg. ix. 56, 57. 
" They (the wicked) lay wait for their own blood." Prov. i. 18. 
" The way of the wicked is as darkness : they know not at what 
they stumble." Prov. iv. 1 9« " The wicked worketh a deceitful 
work" (a work which deceives himself). Prov. xi. 18. ie Pride 
goeth before destruction." Prov. xvi. 18. " There is no peace, 
saith the Lord, unto the wicked." Isaiah, xlviii. 22 ; lvii. 21. 
" They have rewarded evil unto themselves." iii. Q. " But every 
one shall die for his own iniquity." Jer. xxxi. 30. " The soul 
that sinneth, it shall die." Ezek. xviii. 4. 

Death is regulated by God on the same system ; it serves, 
according to the age and circumstances in which it occurs, as a 



NOTES TO BOOK II. 113 

punishment, — of this the examples are so numerous that no one 
can doubt the fact, —or as a reward. This dispensation appears 
more extraordinary, and yet it is not so ; the examples of it are 
not, perhaps, less striking, but more rare, because it is especially 
as a deliverance from disasters about to fall on a family, or on a 
nation, that a death, sometimes even premature in the eyes of 
the world, is a reward and a grace. Of the eldest son of the 
impious Jeroboam, otherwise unknown, it is said : " for he only 
of Jeroboam shall come to the grave, because in him there is 
found some good thing.",. 1 Kings, xiv. 13. To the pious Josiah 
it is said : '* Behold, therefore, I will gather thee unto thy 
fathers, and thou shalt be gathered into thy grave in peace ; and 
thine eyes shall not see all the evil which I will bring on this 
place." 2 Kings, xxii. 20. Isaiah complains that in his days 
the example of these deaths was entirely lost on a perverse ge- 
neration : " The righteous perisheth, and no man layeth it to 
heart ; and merciful men are taken away, none considering that 
the righteous is taken away from the evil to come." Isaiah, 
lvii. 1. Yet, ei because sentence against an evil work is not 
executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is 
fully set in them to do evil." Eccl. viii. 11. But, li there shall 
be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust." Acts, 
xxiv. 15. And then, as " God is not mocked . . . whatsoever 
a man soweth, that shall he also reap." Gal. vi. r J. " He which 
soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly ; and he which soweth 
bountifully shall reap also bountifully." 2 Cor. ix. 6. And our 
trespasses will be forgiven as we " forgive men their trespasses." 
Matt. vi. 12. 14, 15. " And let us not be weary in well doing, 
for in due season we shall reap." Gal. vi. 9« 

(18.) The Psalmist says : "With the merciful thou wilt show 
thyself merciful ; with an upright man thou wilt show thyself 
upright ; with the pure thou wilt show thyself pure ; and with 
the froward thou wilt show thyself fro ward." Psalm xviii. 25, 26. 
' •' Surely he scorneth the scorners ; but he giveth grace! unto the 
lowly." Prov. iii. 34. 

(19-) It is by the care which God takes to leave to good and 
evil their legitimate consequences that " our unrighteousness (in- 
justice) commends the righteousness (justice) of God," Rom. iii. 5. 

(20.) Christ himself only considers his life as the time allotted 
for his work : ie I must work the works of him that sent me 
while it is day : the night cometh, when no man can work ; " 
John, ix. 4 ; and as the " twelve hours in the day," in which a 
man should walk." xi. 9. " The night," in this passage, as in 
numerous others to be found in ancient authors, sacred and pro-. 



114 NOTES TO BOOK II. 

fane, is an image of death. Christ's idea is, therefore, clear ": 
there is a task given, and a time in which to perform it : this 
time once expired, no man can work ; no man can do, after the 
hour of labour is past, what he should have done while it was 
passing. 

(21.) The existence of the child is without responsibility. 
" . . . Your children," said Moses, " which in that day had 
no knowledge between good and evil," Deut. i. 39. "... 
before the child shall know to refuse the evil, and choose the 
good." Isaiah, vii. 16. And Jesus himself, while blessing the 
children who were brought to him, declared their perfect inno- 
cence : " Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto 
me ; for of such (of those who resemble them) is the kingdom 
of heaven." Matt. xix. 14 ; Mark, x. 14 ; Luke, xviii. 16. It 
is worthy of remark that the first two Evangelists make use in 
this passage of a Greek word of very extended signification, which 
embraces the whole period of adolescence ; while St. Luke employs 
a term especially designating childhood : hence we may reasonably 
conclude that the precise period when responsibility commences 
is by no means fixed. It doubtless varies according to individual 
character, and God alone is the judge. 

(22.) "... Let them (children) learn first to show piety 
at home, and to requite their parents." 1 Tim. v. 4. In this 
simple and energetic expression requite, the whole law of reci- 
procity is contained j here the social compact is ascending. 
Again, St. Paul says : " for the children ought not to lay up for 
the parents, but the parents for the children ; " 2 Cor. xii. 14 : 
here it is descending. 

(23.) The most affecting and instructive example of the lesson 
to be derived from the death of a child is that of David, who 
weeps and prays while his child still retains life, but rises in all 
his firmness and dignity, when, on the seventh day, death has 
struck the fatal blow. "■ Then David arose from the earth, and 
washed, and anointed himself, and changed his apparel, and came 
into the house of the Lord, and worshipped : then he came to 
his own house ; and when he required, they set bread before 
him, and he did eat. Then said his servants unto him, What 
thing is this that thou hast done ? Thou didst fast and weep for 
the child, while it was alive ; but when the child was dead, thou 
didst rise and eat bread. And he said, while the child was yet 
alive, I fasted and wept ; for I said, who can tell whether God 
will be gracious to me, that the child may live ? But now he is 
dead, wherefore should I fast ? Can I bring him back again ? 
I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me." 2 Sam. xii. 



NOTES TO BOOK II. 115 

20 — 23. This salutary resignation of the Hebrew monarch is 
the more worthy of admiration, as to lose children in infancy was 
considered among the Hebrews one of the most terrible visita- 
tions of Providence. Isaiah, in tracing the picture of an era of 
prosperity, reckons among the most precious blessings of this 
happy time, that " there shall be no more thence an infant of days 
(an infant which shall live but a few days)." Isaiah, lxv. 20. 

(24.) The death of the child of David and Bathsheba, an- 
nounced by the prophet Nathan, 2 Sam. xii. 14., affords a proof 
of the fact, that death may be a chastisement to the parents, and 
a deliverance to the child : God punishes the guilty monarch by 
this sorrow and mourning, which tears his soul, and delivers the 
child, much to be pitied, from the burden of life, whose joys 
would have been poisoned and its duties made heavier by the 
shame of his birth. 

Christ's benediction upon children, already quoted, evidently 
implies a future development ; and the same conclusion may be 
deduced from the lesson of humility which he gives to his apostles 
when, placing a child in the midst of them, and taking it in his 
arms, he says to them : " Except ye be converted, and become as 
little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. 
Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the 
same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven." Matt, xviii. 3 — 4 ; 
Mark, ix. 36 ; Luke, ix. 47. For children then, above all, it is 
true, that " the day of death is better than the day of birth." 
Eccl. vii. 8. 

(25.) All the traits, all the images used to described death in 
the sacred writings, confirm the definition which we have given 
of it : " The maid is not dead, but sleepeth." Matt. ix. 24. 
" Our friend Lazarus sleepeth." John, xi. 11. . . . " His hour 
was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father 
. . . John, xiii. 1. " Father, into thy hands I commend my 
spirit." Luke, xxiii. 46. " Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." Acts,, 
vii. 59. " For we know, that, if our earthly house of this taber- 
nacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not 
made with hands, eternal in the heavens." 2 Cor. v. 1 . u The 
redemption of our body." Rom. viii. 2, 3. " The day of Re- 
demption." Eph. iv. 30. ..." Having a desire to depart, and 
to be with Christ." Phil. i. 23 ; 2 Tim. iv. 6. " I have finished 
my course." iv. 7. . . . " A rest to the people of God." Heb. 
iv. 9. . . . " that they may rest from their labours." Rev. xiv. 
13. Again, under the Gospel dispensation. " To die is gain for 
the Christian," Phil. i. 21 ; and Christ came to deliver " them 
who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to 



116 NOTES TO BOOK II. 

bondage." Heb. ii. 15. It is evidently in this sense that Christ 
ec hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to 
light." 2 Tim. i. 10. 

(26.) ..." That mortality might be swallowed up of life." 
2 Cor. v. 4. " For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor 
are given in marriage," Matt. xxii. 30. ; Mark, xii. 25. ; Luke, 
xx. 35. that is, relations will be changed. " Meats for the belly, 
and the belly for meats: but God shall destroy both it and them," 
1 Cor. vi. 13 ; that is to say, the conditions of existence will be 
altered ; and St. Paul sums up this last idea in these positive 
terms: "Now this 1 say, brethren, that flesh and blood (that is, 
the present body) cannot inherit the kingdom of God ; neither 
doth corruption inherit incorrupt! on." xv. 50. 

(27.) To die is only, according to an image of St, Paul's, to 
ic come unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the 
fulness of Christ." Eph. iv. 13. 

(28.) That other paths might have been opened by which 
mankind might reach the phase of progress next above the one in 
which it now exists, we may reasonably conclude from the ex- 
amples of Enoch, Gen. v. 24., and of Elijah, 2 Kings, ii. 11 ; 
according to the expression in the Epistle to the Hebrews, this 
was not to see, or taste, death, and yet to quit this world." Heb. 
xi. 5. 

(29.) " The sting of death is sin," 1 Cor. xv. 5& ; without 
sin, then, there would have been death, but death without a 
sting. 

(30.) Of progress in a future life, St. Paul says: .... 
" having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ, which is far 
better." Phil. i. 23 : of physical development : " it is sown in 
corruption, it is raised in incorruption : it is sown in dishonour, 
it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power: 
it is sown a natural body (like those of the brute creation), it is 
raised a spiritual body, like those of the angels." 1 Cor. xv. 42 
— 44. " Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fash- 
ioned like unto his glorious body." Phil. iii. 21. 

(31.) The Gospel furnishes positive proofs against the ancient 
and vulgar error of an intermediate state between life and im- 
mortality, although the language of the sacred authors is often 
in conformity with it : c< But as touching the resurrection of the 
dead, have ye not read that which was spoken unto you by God, 
saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and 
the God of Jacob. God is not the God of the dead, but of the 
living, and all live unto him." Matt. xxii. 32 ; Mark, xii. 26, 27 : 
Luke, xx. 37, 38. These patriarchs, and " all the prophets," 



NOTES TO BOOK II. 117 

are et in the kingdom of God." Luke, xiii. 28. Lazarus is 
" carried by angels into Abraham's bosom/' that is, into a bliss- 
ful future life. Luke, xvi. 22. Moses and Elias, on Mount 
Tabor with Christ, who then for a moment appeared on earth 
such as he always is in heaven, are in the full plenitude of ce- 
lestial, intellectual, affectionate and religious life, since they 
Ci spake of his decease which he should accomplish at Jerusalem." 
Luke, ix. 30, 31. When Martha says to Jesus: "I know that 
he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day, he does not 
require her to fix her hopes on so distant a period, but replies, 
<e He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he 
live." John, xi. 24, 25. Jesus promises to his disciples that he 
will prepare a place for them, and that he will afterwards receive 
them unto himself, ei that where I am, there ye may be also." 
John, xiv. 3. And, lastly, the question is completely decided by 
Christ's reply to the repentant malefactor, " To-day shalt thou 
be with me in paradise." Luke, xxiii. 43. 

When St. Paul desires et to be clothed upon with our house 
which is from heaven," 2 Cor. v. 2 ; when he is " willing rather 
to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord," 
v. 8 ; when he declares that "to be with Christ is far better" 
than " to abide in the flesh," Philip, i. 23 ; these desires and 
aspirations have no meaning if the apostle only alludes to falling 
asleep in the tomb. We read in the epistle to the Hebrews, 
cc And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the 
judgment." Heb. ix. 27. 

To all those, then, who weep on the tombs of friends, we may 
say, as the angels to the women, " Why seek ye the living among 
the dead ? Luke, xxiv. 5. 

The testimony of the Gospel against the theory of an inter- 
mediate state is the more remarkable, as we find this theory 
adopted as a popular opinion among the Hebrews from the earliest 
times, and as the language of the Old Testament is every where 
in conformity with it. This question must, therefore, be counted 
among those reserved, if we may thus speak, by inspiration for 
the Gospel. The origin of this idea, common for the most part 
to the early nations, and especially prevalent in Egypt, is not 
known : the most probable solution is to regard it as one of those 
unsuccessful, but very natural efforts of the human mind to be- 
lieve in an immortality in spite of death, and to explain to itself 
the phenomena of the passage from the one to the other. The 
Hebrews thought that, after death, the body descended to the 
grave, and the soul (which they represented as a purer material 
essence) entered a kind of subterraneous abyss, the place of so- 



118 NOTES TO BOOK II. 

journ of shades, manes, souls. Our language does not, like the 
ancient languages, furnish us with terms to express this last idea; 
and the translators of the Bible have rendered the Hebrew word 
tomb or sepulchre, sometimes grave, and sometimes abyss, or gulf. 
That a distinction ought to be made between the kever, the re- 
ceptacle of bodies, and the scheol, the prison of souls, is a fact 
which the slightest comparison of texts will prove beyond a doubt. 
The expression, so common in Genesis, " to be gathered to his 
people, otherwise, to be reunited to his ancestors, Gen. xxv. 
8 — 17; xxxv. 29; xlix. 29; Deut. xxxii. 50; Numb. xx. 
24, is explained by the other terra, " to go down to the grave" 
(scheol) Gen. xxxvii. 35 ; xlii. 38 ; xliv. 29 — 31. 

Two simple remarks will suffice clearly to demonstrate the 
difference between the sepulchre and the scheol, or place of so- 
journ of souls. 1. Jacob dies : the embalment lasts forty days ; 
the Egyptian time of mourning, seventy days ; the body is carried 
into Canaan, and buried in a tomb in the cave of Machpelah : 
but Jacob, according to Genesis, is " gathered to his people" on 
the very day of his death. Gen. xlix. 33. 2. The following 
observation, which we owe to a celebrated critic, is as striking as 
it is ingenious : it is never said of animals that they " go down 
to the grave" (scheol) : this expression is only employed in 
reference to men. 

It may be easily conceived that this system opened a vast field 
to poetry ; and, indeed, we must almost always understand the 
allusions of the sacred authors to this kingdom of the dead in a 
poetic sense. Two passages will suffice to show how strong a 
hold and influence poetry had on this subject. Job, when replying 
to Bildad, and describing the divine power, says : " Dead things 
are formed from under the waters, and the inhabitants thereof 
(more exactly, the shades retire in terror before God, they who 
dwell by the subterranean rivers). Job, xxvi. 5. This passage 
is undoubtedly the oldest known image of an Acheron. Secondly, 
in the discourse pronounced by the divine voice, it is demanded 
of the patriarch whether he has penetrated into the abyss of the 
sea, whether he has seen in these depths " the gates of death (of 
the sojourn of spirits) opened." xxxviii. 17. 

Some uncertainty attaches to the ideas which the Jews enter- 
tained regarding the situation of the souls in their subterranean 
dwelling-place. The good and the bad were assembled there 
together, and thus far is certain, that to be engulfed alive in 
the scheol was considered as an extraordinary and terrible punish- 
ment ; it was that of Korab, Dathan, and Abiram. Numb. xvi. 
30 — 33. This place of sojourn is represented as an abode of 



NOTES TO BOOK IT. 119 

obscurity, of silence, of sleep, of inactivity. " And the Lord 
said unto Moses, Behold, thou shalt sleep with thy fathers." 
Deut. xxxi. 16; Job, iii. 13. Before I go whence I shall not 
return, even to the land of darkness, and the shadow of death." 
Job, x. 21. " For in death there is no remembrance of thee : 
in the grave (scheol) who shall give thee thanks ? " Ps. vi. 5 ; 
lxxxviii. 11, 12; cxv. 17; Isaiah, xxxviii. 18. . . . "There 
is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave 
(scheol), whither thou goest." Ecc. ix. 10. Kings and subjects, 
great and small, come to take their places there ; and one of the 
most sublime passages of Isaiah represents the arrival of Nebu- 
chadnezzar in the kingdom of shades. {i Hell (scheol) from 
beneath is moved for thee to meet thee at thy coming : it stirreth 
up the dead for thee, even all the chief ones of the earth ; it 
hath raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations. 
All they shall speak and say unto thee, art thou also become 
weak as we ? art thou become like unto us ? Thy pomp is 
brought down to the grave, and the noise of thy vials. . . How 
art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning!" 
Isaiah, xiv. 9 — 12. No allusion is made, in any part of the Old 
Testament, to a judgment before entering the scheol, nor to any 
fixed time for quitting this sojourn of the dead. It is worthy 
of remark, however, that Ecclesiastes, who speaks of the dwelling- 
place of souls as of an abode of inactivity, says in another passage 
that " the spirit shall return unto God who gave it, Ecc. xii. 7 ; 
and that " God shall bring every work unto judgment, with 
every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil." 
xii. ] 4. We see elsewhere that the Jews believed in an end of 
the world. (See Chap. xxiv. note 33.) 

We must conclude, therefore, that God allowed the Jews, 
during the dispensation of the old covenant, to form and enter- 
tain the only ideas of a future life which were then possible : 
which were proportioned to the degree of their intellectual and 
religious development. These ideas gradually conducted them 
to that of a general resurrection and last judgment, which they 
had adopted even before the Gospel dispensation. " I know," 
said Martha to our Lord, " that he shall rise again in the re- 
surrection at the last day." John, xi. 24. If we examine the 
subject, we find no nation at that period more advanced : it was 
for the Redeemer to bring " life and immortality to light." 2 
Tim. i. 10. 

The only passage in the New Testament which appears to 
recal the ancient idea of a scheol, is the following : " That at the 
name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and 



120 NOTES TO BOOK II. 

things in earth, and things under the earth." Phil. ii. 10. 
But certainly the most probable interpretation of this passsage 
of St. Paul's is to regard it as a rapid periphrase by which the 
apostle designates the angels, the living, and the dead. 

(32.) True disciples " die in faith," Heb., xi. 13; the 
wicked and unbelievers "in their sins," John, viii. 21 — 24; and 
their end is " according to their works." 2 Cor. xi. 15. 

(33.) The sacred writers of the Old Testament most fre- 
quently take the doctrine of the end of the world in a poetic 
sense : sometimes the duration of the world expresses, in their 
writings, the idea of an indefinite duration : " They (the just) 
shall fear thee as long as the sun and moon endure, throughout 
all generations. . . . " In his days shall the righteous flourish ; 
and abundance of peace so long as the moon endureth." Ps. 
lxxii. 5 — 7- It (the throne of David) shall be established for 
ever as the moon, and as a faithful witness in heaven '' (which 
shall be a faithful witness in heaven of this promise), lxxxix. 37- 
" Thus saith the Lord, which giveth the sun for a light by day, 
and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by 
night. ... If those ordinances depart from before me, saith the 
Lord, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation 
before me for ever." Jer., xxxi. 35, 36. " Thus saith the 
Lord, If ye can break my covenant of the day, and my covenant 
of the night, and that there should not be day and night in their 
season ; then may also my covenant be broken with David my 
servant, xxxiii. 20, 21. 

Sometimes the age or destruction of the world is placed in 
strong contrast with the immutability and eternity of God : 
" They (the heavens and the earth) shall perish, but thou shalt 
endure ; yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment : as a 
vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed : but 
thou art the same, and thy years shall have no end." Ps. cii. 
26, 27. 

The ancient Hebrews believed, however, in an end of the 
world : " Till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake, 
nor be raised out of their sleep." Job, xiv. 1 2. " For the 
heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax 
old like a garment, and they that dwell therein shall die in like 
manner : but my salvation shall be for ever, and my righteous- 
ness shall not be abolished." Isaiah, ii. 6. 

(34.) After the lesson of humility which Christ inculcated on 
his apostles, saying to them : " It is not for you to know the 
times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own 
power," Acts, i. 7, who can be surprised that of the end of the 



NOTES TO BOOK IT. 1 21 

world he said : " Of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, 
not the angels of heaven, but my Father only." Matt. xxiv. 
36 ; Mark, xiii. 32. 

(35.) " Thou hast put all things in subjection under his 
(man's) feet. For in that he put all in subjection under him, he 
left nothing that is not put under him. But now, notwithstand- 
ing this promise, we see not yet all things put under him in fact." 
Heb. ii. 8. The idea of possible progress completely accom- 
plished is clearly expressed by St. Paul : (i Then cometh the 
end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even 
the Father ; when he shall have put down (annihilated) all rule, 
and all authority and power " (contrary to his). 1 Cor. xv. 24. 

{36.) " The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death." 

1 Cor. xv. 26. 

(37.) " Behold," says St. Paul, (C I show you a mystery ; we 
shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed . . . the dead shall 
be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed." 1 Cor. xv. 
51, 52. The same conclusion may be deduced from the 
passages where Christ is called "the judge of quick and dead," 
connecting them with the idea of the last judgment. Acts, x. 
42 ; 2 Tim. iv. 1 ; 1 Peter, iv. 5. 

(38.) We may justly infer from the different traits presented 
by the various prophecies of these events contained in the sacred 
writings, that this change, or renewal, will be unaccompanied 
with pain : the change will be effected, according to St. Paul, 
" in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye." 1 Cor. xv. 52. 
The apostle also promises the same " crown of righteousness" 
for which he hopes, to <c all them also that love his appearing." 

2 Tim. iv. 8. But, on the other hand, the last generations will 
enjoy no privilege in the celestial life : ... "we which are 
alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent 
(have precedence of) them which are asleep," 1 Thes. iv. 15 ; 
that is, our condition will not be better, higher, or happier. 

(See on the epoch of the end of the world, and on the advent 
of Christ, Book VI. Chap. lxxv. note Ql.) 

(39.) " If ye, then, being evil (it is evident that this idea is 
here taken in a relative sense), know how to give good gifts unto 
your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father 
give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?" Luke, xi. 13. 
If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to 
all men liberally, and upbraideth not ; and it shall be given him." 
James, i. 5. 

The apostles possessed the same certainty of being heard and 
answered in every thing relating to their ministry : " Verily, I say 

G 



122 NOTES TO BOOK II. 






unto you, whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will 
give it you." John, xvi. 23. 

(40.) " But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the 
heathen do : for they think that they shall be heard for their 
much speaking." Matt. vi. 7. It is to such acts of worship, 
to such habits of prayer, that the words of the prophets are ap- 
applicable : . . . Ci this people draw near me with their mouth 
and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart 
far from me." Isaiah, xxix. 13. " Thou art near in their mouth, 
and far from their reins " (from their hearts), Jer. xii. 2. 

(41.) The length of prayers is indicated by Christ himself as 
one of the characteristic signs of hypocrisy ; Woe unto you, 
Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites . . . who for a pretence make 
long prayers." Matt, xxiii. 14 j Mark, xii. 40 ; Luke, xx. 47. 

(See on the Lord's Prayer, Book VI. Chap. lxvi. note 36.) 

(42.) The prayer of Jesus, during the night at Gethsemane, 
quoted in the text, is, in some manner, a Divine guarantee of 
this definition ; it is admirably commented upon in the Epistle 
to the Hebrews : Jesus, " who, in the days of his flesh, when he 
had offered up prayers and supplications, with strong crying and 
tears, unto him that was able to save him from death, and was 
heard in that he feared." Heb. v. 7- His prayer was answered ; 
not by the granting of the petition, but by the reconcilement 
of the will ; not, if we may thus express ourselves, by the acqui- 
escence of God with Christ, but of Christ with God. " And this 
is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing 
according to his will, he heareth us." 1 John, v. 14. if Making 
request (if by any means, now at length, I might have a prosper- 
ous journey by the will of God) to come unto you." Rom. i. 
10. These passages explain in what sense and how we should 
c( pray without ceasing ; " 1 Thes. v. 27 ; that is, at all times, 
" in every thing ; " Philip, iv. 6 ; as St. Paul desires us to do, 
not with the lips but with the heart. Is there a moment of 
our existence in which our will ought not to make an effort to 
reconcile itself with the will of God ? St. Paul confirms this 
theory of prayer, when he shows how the spirit of God comes to 
aid our spirits in prayer : ..." we know not what we should 
pray for as we ought ; but the spirit itself (the spirit of God) 
maketh intercession for us as with groanings which cannot be 
uttered " (that is, forms fervent prayers in our minds) ; and " He 
that searcheth the hearts knovveth what is the mind of the spirit 
(the Christian spirit), because he maketh intercession for the 
saints according to the will of God." Rom. viii. 26, 27. 

This definition also explains how, before God, prayers and 



NOTES TO BOOK II. 123 

good works are assimilated, because they are of the same nature 
and of the same value ; to Cornelius it is said, " Thy prayers 
and thine alms are come up for a memorial before God." Acts, 
x. 4. 

Lastly, the principle of the accordance of the Divine and human 
will in prayer, is explicitly contained in that part of the Lord's 
Prayer which relates to the pardon of trespasses : " For if ye 
forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also 
forgive you : but if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither 
will your Father forgive your trespasses." Matt. vi. 14, 15. 
Accordance is here enjoined as a condition of the success of 
prayer. 

The efficiency, the sanctity of the prayers of Jesus Christ 
himself, arose from the perfect accordance of his will with that 
of his heavenly Father, which gives to every Christian confidence 
to say to him, like Martha, " I know that whatsoever thou wilt 
ask of God, God will give it thee ; " John, xi. 22 ; and the 
imperfection of our will compared with the perfect will of God, 
explains how the Lord " is able to do exceeding abundantly above 
all that we ask or think." Eph. iii. 20. 

(43.) " The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man 
availeth much," James, v. 16, especially in afflictions; "Is any 
among you afflicted ? let him pray." v. 13. 

(44.) If the aim and effect of prayer is to bring our will into 
harmony with that of God, it follows that prayer made for an 
unworthy object is necessarily illusory and unfruitful : "Ye ask, 
and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it 
upon your lusts." James, iv. 3. 

(45.) Jesus, even in his most general prayer, said : " I pray 
not for the world." John, xvii. 9. 

(46.) " I say unto you, that if two of you shall agree on earth 
as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for 
them of my Father which is in heaven. For where two or three 
are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of 
them." Matt, xviii. 19, 20. "Now I beseech you, brethren, 
. . . that ye strive together with me in your prayers to God for 
me." Rom. xv. 30. " Ye also helping together by prayer for 
us, that, for the gift bestowed upon us by the means of many 
persons, thanks may be given by many in our behalf." 2 Cor. 
i. 11. 

(47.) "Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked 
shall I return thither." Job. i. 21. " For we brought nothing 
into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out." 

g 2 



124 NOTES TO BOOK II. 

1 Tim. vi. 7« C( What hast thou that thou didst not receive?" 
1 Cor. iv. 7. " Or who hath first given to him (to God), and it 
shall he recompensed unto him again ? " Rom. xi. 35. " Can a 
man be profitable unto God ?" Job, xxii. 2. " Every good gift 
and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the 
Father of lights." James, i. 17- 

(48.) A doubt has been raised whether the words of Eli, the 
priest, " It is the Lord ; let him do what seemeth him good, 
1 Sam. iii. 18, expressed a prayer of resignation, or were the 
accents of despair, bowing beneath an irresistible power. 

(490 God said to Solomon : " Ask what I shall give thee." 
1 Kings, iii. 5 ; 2 Chron. i. 7- Who shall explain how God, 
always the Infinite Being, arranged his providence so as to make 
it accord with the wish, whatever it might be, of Solomon, always 
a free agent? (See Book V. Chap. liii. note 13.) 

(50.) " And the multitude of all the nations that fight against 
Ariel (Jerusalem, Isaiah, Xxix. 1.), even all that fight against her 
and her munition, and that distress her, shall be as the dream of 
a night- vision. It shall even be as when an hungry man dreameth, 
and, behold, he eateth ; but he awaketh, and his soul is empty ; 
or as when a thirsty man dreameth, and, behold, he drinketh; 
but he awaketh, and, behold, he is faint, and his soul hath ap- 
petite." . . . Isaiah, xxix. 8. This passage, the image contained 
in which is often found in the Greek and Latin epics, is one of 
those most admired in Isaiah by the Orientalists; it compares the 
disappointment of Sennacherib and his army who thought them- 
selves certain of taking and destroying Jerusalem, to the illusion 
of a man hungry and thirsty, who, in his dreams, fancies he is 
appeasing his hunger and thirst ; and experiences, on awaking, 
the same wants as before his sleep. (See Book IV. Chap. xliv. 
note 20.) 

(51.) "For a dream cometh through the multitude of business; 
and a fool's voice is known by multitude of words, or of religious 
vows." Eccl. v. 3. The sense of this expression is not merely 
words, but religious promises, and the comparison, familiar to the 
Eastern poets, between dreams and imprudent and multiplied 
vows, implies that these vows melt away like the dreams of a 
disturbed night. 

(52.) In the curious visions by which Ezekiel is commissioned 
to explain to his companions in captivity the divine judgments of 
the ruin of Judah, and the taking of Jerusalem (Ezek.iv. 4 — 8; 
viii. 11; xi. S, and following), an evident abstraction of space 
and time is made, whatever sense we attach to the two symbolic 
slumbers, which all the researches and studies of criticism have 



NOTES TO BOOK II. 125 

not yet been able to explain and bring into accordance with the 
facts. 

(53.) " I knew a man in Christ/' says St. Paul, thus speaking 
through humility of himself, "about fourteen years ago, (whether 
in the body, I cannot tell : or whether out of the body, I cannot 
tell : God knoweth ;) such an one caught up to the third heaven," 
(that is, to the highest heaven, according to the Jewish ideas). 
tc And I knew such a man, (whether in the body, or out of the 
body, 1 cannot tell : God knoweth ;) how that he was caught up 
into paradise, and heard unspeakable words/' 2 Cor. xii. 2 — 4< 
From this absence of the body, if we may sO speak, from this 
momentary suspension of the functions of the senses, it results 
that the impressions which still seem to proceed from their action 
during the ecstasy, if it is complete, or do in effect proceed from 
it, if the senses have any share in the ecstasy, vary and succeed 
each other with wonderful rapidity, sometimes indistinct, some- 
times distinct ; thus, in the celebrated vision of Eliphaz : " Fear 
came upon me, and trembling, which made all my bones to shake. 
Then a spirit (an impetuous wind) passed before my face ; the 
hair of my flesh stood up : it stood still, but I could not discern 
the form thereof: an image was before mine eyes ; there was 

silence, and I heard a voice, saying" etc. Job, iv. 14 

— 16. 

The power which the soul exercises over the body and the 
senses in moments of ecstasy and enthusiasm is well known, by 
innumerable examples, and has been manifested in all times. 
The Scriptures present a striking example of it in one part of the 
life of Elijah. After his admirable prayer, after the consuming 
of the sacrifice on Mount Carmel by fire from heaven, after the 
cessation of the drought which he had predicted, Elijah hopes 
that Ahab will declare against idolatry, and that the true religion 
will again flourish ; it was of extreme importance not to leave 
the weak monarch to himself, for the adroit and impious Jezebel 
was awaiting him ; Elijah therefore leaves Mount Carmel with 
Ahab ; and the prophet whose voice had just opened the skies 
and brought down the rain, runs like a hireling before the king's 
chariot : the distance was about ten leagues : " And the hand of 
the Lord was on Elijah; and he girded up his loins, and ran 
before Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel." ] Kings, xviii. 46. (See 
Book IV. Chap. xliv. note 21.) 

(54.) Jesus, explaining to his apostles the glory of John the 
Baptist, says to them, that since his preaching, " the kingdom of 
heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force;" Matt. 
xi. 12 ; that is to say, that zeal, religious enthusiasm are aroused. 

g 3 



126 NOTES TO BOOK II. 

It is to the effect of a sacred enthusiasm that the apostles attribute 
the expulsion from the temple of the traders, whom Jesus, armed 
in sign of contempt, with " a scourge of small cords/' drove out 
before him : And his disciples remembered that it was written, 
ce the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up." John, ii. 17.; Ps. 
lxix. 9' The vivid apostrophe with which Stephen interrupts 
his discourse, and the calm infused into his soul by the sight of 
" the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God," 
Acts, vii. 51 — 55, are also the effects of an ecstasy, a transport of 
enthusiasm r from it Stephen derived the firmness with which he 
suffered martyrdom. 






127 



BOOK III. 

PROBLEM OF REDEMPTION. 



"ESei rbv \x&(TiTt\v ®eov Kai dvOpwirwv Slo. idias irpbs e/carepous olK€t6rr]ros 
€is <pi\iav Kai, bp.6voiav tovs dp.<pOT4povs avvaydyetv, Kai 0e£ fxkp irapacrrTJaai 
rbv &v&pca7ro*> avQpwtrovs 8e yvupicrai rbu ®e6v. — Iren^ius, Adv. Hares, in. 
xviii.. 7. 

Mutila esset redemptio nisi per continuos progressus ad ultimam 
usque sal utis metam nos perduceret. — Calvin. Inst. Chris. Rel. Bookix. 
ch. xvi. 



CHAP. XXIX. 

MAN OUT OF HIS SPHERE. 



It is extremely curious that the condition of sleep and 
that of ecstasy are the only ones, in which the active 
principle satisfying itself leads to the full contentment 
of our sensitive powers. Except in the case of these 
two conditions of the soul, our tendencies are never in 
a state of equilibrium with the resources at their dis- 
posal. As intellectual and moral beings, possessed of 
affections, sensitiveness, and religious aspirations, our 
ambition, in the ordinary condition of our minds, always 
far outruns our energies. 

The fable of Tantalus is the history of the human 
race. 

This disproportion between activity and the object of 
activity, this ardour of the tendencies and their power- 
lessness to satisfy themselves, is a proof of the fact, 
that mankind has halted and drawn back on the path 

G 4 



128 MAN OUT OF MIS SPHERE. 

of progress ; that man bears less resemblance to God 
than he should. 

This thorough, personal, subjective powerlessness is 
found in all our tendencies without exception ; for when 
a progressive being once fails, he fails and draws back 
completely. 

Who has succeeded in attaining unto perfection, in 
loving, enjoying, adoring as much as he could wish? 
who has not felt that it is impossible for him to seize 
on a suitable share of these glories, these joys, these 
perfections ? Experience will answer. (1) 
. Whence it follows that the whole human species is 
displaced, degraded from its rank, diverted from its 
progress, and fallen behind on the path; man is beneath 
himself. (2) 

Frequently he is sensible of it; when he knows it not, 
he feels it. 

The universal traditions of the human race are in per- 
fect accordance with the discoveries of individual expe- 
rience, with these data of human nature ; traditions ex- 
tend backward even to a state of innocence, a paradise, 
an age of gold; all traditions affirm the existence of 
such a condition, and allege that moral evil and physical 
evil only took their origin in the second page of our 
history. It would be impossible to conceive the uni- 
versality of this recollection, unless it was based upon 
a reality. Memory cannot be credulous, like hope, in 
a case in which the sensitive powers of our nature are 
in question. Had man foreseen a terrestrial paradise 
which he supposed to lie in the future, it would have 
been quite in accordance with the superstitious ardour 
which he has always manifested to discover it, to hasten 
towards it, and to promise himself success; the annoy- 
ances of the present easily lead to the embellishment of 



PROBLEM OF REDEMPTION. 129 

the future : the most mephitic Waters reflect the most 
variegatSd colours, and it is only in the barren and arid 
desert, that the mirage is exhibited. But, that man 
should remember a terrestrial paradise which he sup- 
poses to have existed in the past, that, in the depth of 
his misery, he should have believed himself to be an 
heir deprived of his inheritance, seems impossible'; it 
is impossible that his credulity should have extended 
to this retrospective point ; whereas, on the contrary, 
it is perfectly natural for the prodigal son to have 
remembered his father's house. 



CHAP. XXX. 

SOLUTION OF THE PROBLEM OF REDEMPTION. 

Hitherto our system of theology, guided by the study 
of being in itself, and without, for a moment, letting 
go the unwound but certain thread which follows all the 
windings of the labyrinth, has fully explained to us 
man and his tendencies, language and its wonders, God 
and his relations ; — the creation and its end, progress 
and its phases, activity and its alternatives; — time, 
space, nature, cosmogony, chaos, innocence, and fall ; — 
birth, life, death, and resurrection ; moral evil, physical 
evil, the end of the world, sleep and its phenomena, and 
the different states of ecstasy ; — our system of theo- 
logy, by revealing man to himself, reveals every thing, 
and, from the preceding principles, taken as a whole, it 
deduces without difficulty the notion of a redemption. 

First of all, how does this exalted and holy word 
spring from the midst of our researches ? Hew does this 
idea come to present itself at this point in the elimina- 
tion of our theory ? 

G 5 



130 SOLUTION OF THE 

Because, as it is natural to a patient to seek for a 
remedy — for a slave to aspire after liberty, so it is 
natural for a being endowed with the faculties which 
man possesses to turn his thoughts upon himself, in 
order to require from his own faculties some account of 
their deficiency of power ; in a word, man in his fall 
seeks to raise himself up, and looks for a support on 
which he may lean : this support is a redemption. 

Of his fall man is naturally warned by the dispro- 
portion between his faculties and their end, by their 
want of power to realise their aspirations, by all that he 
sees, by that in which he feels himself wanting, and the 
impossibility of acquiring it, of which he is sensible. 

The word redemption is, therefore, natural : it is 
merely the cry of the captive lifting up his chains, and 
seeking for a link where he may break them. 

That man alone may hesitate to pronounce the word, 
and has a right to feel himself a stranger to the idea, 
who feels and declares himself perfectly satisfied with 
this world, with death, and with himself, who wishes 
for nothing more, nothing better, nothing different. 

What, then, according to all these principles, is a 
redemption? Two of the facts already established 
furnish the answer. 

The activity of every progressive creature is con- 
tinuous. 

Activity has only two alternatives to follow, that of 
retiring further from, and that of drawing nearer to, 
God; — 

Whence it follows, that perdition is merely a con- 
tinually increasing departure from God ; — 

Whence it follows that a redemption consists in an 
arrest of this progressive declension of a class of beings 
on the downward path, and a means given to enable 



PROBLEM OF REDEMPTION. 131 

them to resume an upward career towards the 
Supreme. (3) 

A Redeemer is a Stator on the way of Evil. 

Blessing immense ! as we have seen that Eternity 
depends upon it ; for the two alternatives are equally 
indefinite, without barrier or bounds ; it is possible 
to go on always, always retiring from God. 

Blessing immense ! since the existing powerlessness 
of our tendencies to satisfy their aspirations sufficiently 
proves that the means of this return are beyond our 
reach, and that of ourselves and by our own power, we 
could not sufficiently return towards God. 

Blessing immense ! because from its very nature it is 
a free gift. To assume that the Creator is bound to 
grant a redemption to his creatures, is to assume that 
creation was defective and badly executed. By the 
very nature of things a redemption is a supplementary 
means granted to activity, to lead it, to maintain it on 
the path towards God, during a phase of progress. A 
supplementary means is not, however, a thing which can 
be required, as if the means originally given were insuf- 
ficient : redemption, therefore, is a free gift. (4) 

Blessing immense ! because, finally, it is necessarily 
general and common to the whole species of progressive 
beings comprehended in the phase of progress, which 
obtains it. (5) 

The universality of human redemption is a necessary 
consequence of the unity of the race. As a single fall 
suffices to drag downward a whole species living in 
social union, a single redemption raises it again. Men 
are so far alike ; and, like all that concerns us, a re- 
demption must be a social question. (6) The whole 
race is fallen ; God, in stretching forth his hand to raise, 
lifts up the whole from its fallen condition. 

G 6 



132 SOLUTION OF THE 



The proof is, that God is love ; — that the power 
the affections in God is infinite (7) : it would be limited 
if God limited redemption. 

The proof will be further found in the unity of our 
phase of progress, which forms a whole, in which all the 
parts are so united that a partial or temporary redemp- 
tion would be at variance with the very progress, which 
it is its object to direct and confirm. (8) 

A still further proof is the law of social compact ;*how 
could this law remain in force in the midst of a race 
partially saved ? It would then become necessary that 
the laws of social compact should exclude the very 
highest interests of man, the interests of salvation, and 
that a man might share every thing with his brethren 
except redemption and immortality : the horrible and 
the absurd meet together in such a supposition. (9) 

And the final proof is the generality of the end of 
creation. This end is the progress of all towards God ; 
and redemption cannot have a less object than creation. 

It may, indeed, be said that to limit is to falsify, and, 
consequently, to destroy it. A partial redemption 
would soon result in finding no believers. 

Hence the reason why the dogma " out of the church, 
no salvation," forms the latent principle of death in all 
those sects which have embraced or do embrace it. 

The universality of redemption never leads to the 
slightest infraction of freewill — the common right of 
mankind ; nor to that of difference, which in all rela- 
tions always exists among men. 

Redemption does not infringe upon free will ; because 
freedom of action is the principal and indispensable 
means of progress, and the very object of redemption 
is to lead men to, and confirm them in, this path of 
progress. (10) 






PROBLEM OF REDEMPTION. 133 

And redemption does not infringe upon the law of 
difference or inequality ; inasmuch as these differences 
between man and man are necessary to the progress of 
all, and necessarily taken into account with each. 

It is because redemption cannot infringe upon the 
law of inequality, that redemption is unequally distri- 
buted among men, that some see it more nearly and 
know it better, and that one part of the species has 
been blessed with its knowledge before another. In 
a world where every thing is unequal, redemption must 
necessarily be so too. (1 1) (See Book VI. Chap, lxxvi.) 

In the mean while, will redemption be subjective or 
objective ? In other words, will it operate wholly in 
our souls ? will it be effected within us, or take posses- 
sion of our beings, by means purely external ? 

In its object and in its results redemption is purely 
subjective, since the resemblance of the creature and 
the Creator, which it is designed to re-establish, can 
only be inward and spiritual. Its object is to lead 
mankind in general, and every man in particular, on 
the path of the legitimate alternative — to conduct him 
towards God, and make him more and more like his 
Creator. It is obvious that every thing connected with 
this design is subjective, spiritual, inward. (12) 

"Will redemption be subjective or objective in its 
means ? Objective : for, if redemption were subjective 
in its means, if it worked wholly within every human 
heart to convert, regenerate, and lead it back to pro- 
gress, there would be as many redemptions as there are 
individuals to redeem : each man would have received 
his own privately, secretly, invisibly, and unknown ; 
the whole would have passed in solitary conferences 
between God and each of his creatures ; and all these 
scattered and isolated redemptions, without bond or 



134 NECESSITY AND NATURE 

connection, would evidently destroy the whole law of 
social compact. In order to maintain this law, re- 
demption must necessarily be collective in its effects, 
and, consequently, objective, outward, visible in its 
accomplishment. (13) 



CHAP. XXXI. 

NECESSITY AND NATURE OP A REDEEMER. 

Redemption could not be objective in its means, and 
collective, or general, without being personalised in a 
Redeemer. A salvation, when the question is one of 
saving the human species, supposes a Saviour. 

To fulfil the office of a Saviour in a department of 
creation, that is, to effect a change of direction in an 
activity which has wandered from its path, and to lead 
it towards God, is to touch upon the work of God, to 
interfere with his government, to draw upon the infinite 
in order to render assistance to the finite. Whence 
three consequences result : First, a redemption would 
be impossible without the full authorisation and conti- 
nuous participation of the Infinite Being (14); Secondly, 
the office of a Saviour could not be filled, except by 
God himself, or by a being who was his representative, 
the depositary of his powers, the alter ego of the infinite 
being (15), the ideal realised and manifested (16) ; 
Thirdly, the existence of a Redeemer lies without the 
limits of time, or, to speak more precisely, it is in no 
respects subject to that form of knowledge, to that law 
of succession. In order to draw freely upon the re- 
sources, and to act upon the responsibility of the in- 
finite, there cannot exist between the Redeemer and 
the infinite that barrier which we call time. (17) 



OF A REDEEMER. 135 

Besides, to fill the office of a Saviour in a manner 
subjective, or inward, as to its results, and objective, or 
outward, as to its means, in a manner at once individual 
and collective, could not be done by a theory; there 
must also be a practice. 

Finally, the fall and sin were those of a human ac- 
tivity, and human agency also was necessary for restora- 
tion, A man alone could effect and offer a human 
salvation : whom else than a man could men follow, 
even in order to return to God? (18) 

All that has just been said on the means of a salvation 
may be generalised and embraced in a single sentence : 
— A salvation can only be effected in the very heart of 
the phase of progress, which, in consequence of a fall, 
has incurred its necessity. (19) 

Thus a redeemer must exhibit a double character ; 
he must be equally in his natural place, one while in 
the bosom of God, at another in the midst of his re- 
deemed, whomsoever they may be. 

If he does not come forth from God when he under- 
takes to compass a redemption, from whence will come 
the right, the power of interfering with the consequences 
of free will, of an activity which God has created ? by 
what title will he pretend to restrain in its fall a world 
in a state of progressive perdition, because God has 
made it free, and free worlds may go to destruction if 
they will. 

If he is not on a level with his redeemed, what con- 
ditions of redemption, what method of salvation, will he 
propose to them ? Could the most divine Redeemer 
save a world by remaining a stranger to its condition ? 
Could he make man follow, as we have already asked, 
without himself setting them an example? 

This double character of a redeemer involves an 



136 NECESSITY OF A REDEEMER. 

impenetrable mystery. (21) Do not the two names of 
brother and Emmanuel (God with us) which the re- 
deemed must give to the Redeemer in order to trust 
in him, seem to exclude and contradict one another? 
The very nature of this mystery leads to two conclusions, 
whose importance is extreme. 

I. The mystery is of a kind similar to that of free 
will : the question is always to understand how God 
ceases to act, and leaves others to act. 

In the case of free will, we ask, how does God leave 
an activity such as ours independent, and suffer man to 
incur the responsibility of a life. 

In the case of redemption, we ask, how does God 
render an activity sufficient for this work, independent, 
and leave the redeemer, whoever he may be, to accept 
the responsibility of a redemption. 

In both cases, the kind of mystery is the same. 

II. A redemption can only be proved by facts ; as the 
mystery of a redemption is always above the efforts of 
reason, able to discover the need of it, unable to point 
out its author ; of reason, which can say no more after 
having said, — in order to make a redemption possible, 
the redeemer must be an Emmanuel and a brother ; it 
follows that the guarantees of a redemption can only be 
objective, outward, transmitted and not immediate; that 
is to say, they can only consist in facts, an idea which is 
in perfect harmony with the position previously admitted, 
that redemption must be objective in the means which 
it employs. 

A redemption is necessarily a work of free will (22), 
since it is a moral work. The undertaking of a re- 
demption implies the continuous (23) responsibility of 
the redeemer, who, moreover, must have a precise and 
complete idea of his powers, his rights, his duties, as 



CERTAINTY SUITABLE TO A REDEMPTION. 137 

well as of the dangers of his task (24), an abiding con- 
fidence in the success of his mission, and in its issue, 
the inward and subjective certainty of having suc- 
ceeded. (26) 



CHAP. XXXII. 

CERTAINTY SUITABLE TO A REDEMPTION. 

What, then, will these facts be? They can be nothing 
else but the entire and complete development of an ex- 
istence and activity of man. 

A human existence embraces four facts, already 
recognised and defined (See Book II. Chap, xxiii.), by 
which human activity finds the opportunity and means 
of its development in the present phase, and upon the 
threshold of the following — birth, life, death, and resur- 
rection : nothing less, nothing more. 

Man, the Redeemer of men, must pass through these 
intervals, pass through all these gradations, and manifest 
his human activity under these different aspects. If 
one or other of these gradations was omitted, or he 
refused to submit to its manifestation ; if his activity 
was dispensed from any of these conditions from which 
man never is dispensed, the bond of fraternity between 
the Redeemer and the redeemed would be so relaxed, 
that the latter would necessarily entertain a rightful 
distrust of the validity of such redemption. The mis- 
sion of a Redeemer of men must therefore present, in 
their entirety, these four phases of human existence — 
birth (27), life(28), death (29), and resurrection. (30) 

A redemption, the work of such an extraordinary 
workman, alone capable of accomplishing it, could only 
be effected after having been announced, predicted, and 



138 CERTAINTY* SUITABLE TO A REDEMPTION. 






known beforehand. A Saviour, taking the world by 
surprise, could never succeed in such an aim (31) : the 
salvation of a race cannot be a fact unexpected and 
sudden. The mysterious character of the Redeemer, 
the mysterious nature of his office, imperatively require 
a previous intimation of his mission to mankind, and 
the duty of mankind evidently is to abide by the in- 
formation given. (32) 

Redemption, as we have observed, is objective in its 
means ; objective, that is to say, purely terrestrial in 
appearance, and outwardly ; had no previous intimation 
been given, the form would veil the essence, and man- 
kind would run the risk of mistaking redemption for 
one of the ordinary things of this world. (33) 

Redemption is collective and general in its effects ; 
nevertheless, it is temporary and local in its accomplish- 
ment : it has a fixed time, and a fixed place ; and, con- 
sequently, if it occurs without the expectation of man- 
kind, and their being prepared for its manifestation, it is 
inclosed, as it were, within a narrow frame, where man- 
kind can scarcely perceive it, and much time must be 
lost in collecting and multiplying its energies before it 
can put forth its vigour, and spread its branches abroad. 

One simple observation will complete the proof of 
its being certain that redemption could not be general 
and profitable, overlooking none, without having been 
announced and promised. Such an intimation places 
men in presence of redemption, as in the presence of 
all the events of this world, in situations precisely 
determined, and which cannot be better expressed than 
by the three familiar words, before, during, after. 

The generations anterior to redemption had to await 
its coming, and to become the forerunners and heralds 
of its appearance. (34) 



CERTAINTY SUITABLE TO A REDEMPTION. 139 

The generations near the scene of its manifestation 
and contemporary with its accomplishment, had to seize 
it, so to speak, on its passage, to contemplate it in 
action, to examine it narrowly, and to become attentive 
and faithful witnesses, in order to attest its truth, and 
to hand it down to future generations and distant 
lands. (35) 

The generations subsisting after the redemption is 
accomplished, simply have to become its disciples, guar- 
dians, and propagators. (36) 

If the certainty of a revelation can only be based 
upon facts, and if, again, redemption must have been 
announced and foretold, it follows that its certainty 
must ultimately rest upon testimony. Facts, in the 
world in which we live, are only known by testimony. 

This testimony will be double. 

The testimony of expectation, prophecy, and pro- 
mise. (37) 

The testimony of accomplishment, remembrance, and 
possession. (38) 

This testimony will necessarily be, at the same time, 
human and Divine. 

Divine, inasmuch as it testifies of an Emmanuel, of a 
Redeemer born of God, and whose existence is beyond 
the scope of reason. 

Divine, too, because it testifies of a gift wholly gra- 
tuitous, of which the desire, the need, and the wish, by 
no means announced the dispensation. 

And still further Divine, because it testifies of re- 
demption before its accomplishment. 

Under another aspect, this testimony will be human, 
inasmuch as the Redeemer of men, a man among 
men, will pass through a whole human life, of which 
evidence must be given, and given by men. 



140 HUMAN FORMS OF REDEMPTION. 






Thus the condition of a redemption is a revelation, 
a terrestrial mirror, in which the divine image will be 
reflected. 



CHAP. XXXIII. 

HUMAN FORMS OF REDEMPTION. 

In revelation, the testimony of redemption, the divine 
and human elements would be so much the more mixed, 
as our Redeemer must necessarily be one of us, notwith- 
standing his coming forth from God, and his redemption 
a fact of this world, notwithstanding its being a divine 
gift. 

A member of the human race, the Redeemer, mingling 
with the multitude, seen and known of all, would be a 
member of a family (39), a citizen of a country (40), a 
pupil of a school (41), a believer in a religion (42), in a 
word, contemporaneous with a human generation, who 
would surround on all sides and press upon him with 
all its weight, both for good and for evil : all this 
results from the fact of being a man ; and, in reality, 
all this amounts to stating that the Redeemer will have 
to submit to the law of social compact. 

Redemption, being an event of this world, would be 
ruled by the two conditions affecting all things in this 
world — time and space: it would occupy a certain 
time ; it would be effected in a certain place ; it would 
have for its field of action upon the earth an era in the 
course of ages ; its epoch would be reckoned on the list 
of the ages of mankind. (43) 

Every man lives the life of his generation. 

Every event partakes of the colour of its age. 

The Redeemer and redemption, as h«s just been 



HUMAN FORMS OF REDEMPTION. 141 

said, would have the characteristics of their time ; with- 
out which, contemporaries, from lack of understanding 
and guiltless, in their want of intelligence would reject 
the Redeemer, and disown the redemption. (44) 

This indispensable condescension of the Redeemer, 
however, and this accommodation of redemption to the 
human mind of the age and to the existing circum- 
stances of mankind, could obviously only apply to the 
form, and not to the essence, without which salvation 
would cease to be collective and general. 

It is evident, that in a redemption destined for a 
human species, the form must necessarily be temporary 
and local ; the essence, permanent and universal. The 
form is of necessity suitable to a time, a place, a cli- 
mate, and is addressed to certain men ; the essence to 
all times, all places, all climates, and all men. (45) 

In the commencement of the work, the form serves 
to find acceptance for the essence ; whilst the essence, 
in its turn and at a later period, enable men to compre- 
hend the form. (46) 

Evidently, also, in proportion as redemption is pro- 
pagated and diffused, the essence will disengage itself 
from the form — a pregnant idea, to which we shall 
hereafter return. (47) 

The form of redemption would necessarily present in 
the acts and discourses of the Redeemer, two characters 
for which it would be natural to seek, and which the 
temporary and local colouring, whatever might be its 
shades, would not conceal — authority (48) and beauty, 
— in other words, a high degree of sublimity ; if the 
ascendant which always accompanies the sublime, if the 
impression of the beautiful ( 4-9), which the tendencies 
of man always desire, at least instinctively, to receive, and 
which constitute such a fruitful and noble source of 



142 CHOICE OF THE 

enjoyment, were deficient in the work of a redemption, 
the noblest instincts of our souls would be chilled, and 
doubt would begin to germinate ; for how can truth not 
be imperious ? how can pure virtue and pure religion 
not be clothed with beauty ? how should redemption 
not be attractive ? 



CHAP. XXXIV. 

CHOICE OF THE PERIOD OF REDEMPTION. 

Redemption, being thus impressed with the stamp of 
the age in which it was effected, but necessarily universal 
and permanent in its essence, it might appear, that 
the period chosen for its manifestation was indifferent, 
and that its coming could not be unseasonable. 

Since all men, also, whether waiting for, preparing 
the way for its manifestation, or as contemporaries 
taking part in escorting it, so to speak, on its progress, 
or finally in bearing testimony to its past accomplish- 
ment and contributing to its further development and 
diffusion, would derive from its fruits sufficient for all, 
it might still further appear, from this point of view, 
that it would be of no consequence whether redemp- 
tion was effected sooner or later. 

But, notwithstanding these appearances, the choice 
of the*' epoch of redemption was one of extreme im- 
portance (50), and this importance is clearly explained 
by the definitions given of redemption : a redemption, 
as we have said, is the arrest of the progressive declen- 
sion of a class of beings on the downward path, and a 
means given to enable them to resume an upward career 
toward God. We can readily conceive that a class of 
beings, especially if living in social union, by habitually 






PERIOD OF REDEMPTION. 143 

abusing the faculties of their phase of progress and 
becoming alienated from God, may reach such a point 
of alienation as to render it impossible for them, in this 
phase at least, to turn back to the path towards the 
Creator. It would, indeed, have been better for such a 
race, according to the strong expression of our Saviour, 
never to have been born. It would, therefore, be essen- 
tially necessary, if such a redemption was granted, that it 
should take effect before the fatal moment, when the 
evil had become irremediable — or the way of salvation 
beyond reach — and the whole human race become 
incapable of either seeing the road or feeling the bless- 
ing of such a salvation. 

If it be objected to this course of reasoning, that it 
is founded upon a mere supposition, — that nothing can 
prove mankind, at any period of its history whatever, 
to have arrived at such a fatal crisis, at such an excess 
of worldly corruption as to have excluded all hope of 
amendment ; it is sufficient to answer, that God w r ould 
act contrary to his own nature and intentions declared, 
by granting a redemption before that moment, seeing 
that the moment just previous to an irremediable degree 
of corruption is the only fit, the only possible, one for a 
redemption: before, it would be too soon — activity 
would not have been left long enough to itself, and 
free will would have been impeded ; after, the blessing 
would have become barren in consequence of the inca- 
pacity of those for whom it was designed. (51) 

If, then, a redemption was, in fact, granted and a 
redeemer appeared, it would be necessary for his 
coming to be distinctly marked in the annals of mankind 
by that stopping-point in the invasion of evil and that 
effort of return towards good — the admirable and 
merciful object of his intervention in our destiny. It 



144 THE REDEEMER, RECOGNISED BY 

would be necessary that, at his voice mankind should 
be stayed — cease to follow the downward path and 
begin to reascend. It would be necessary that the 
abyss of perdition should close under his pure and 
triumphant steps, and that, regaining the solid ground, 
man, leaning on the support of his Saviour, should 
from that day forth resume the path which leads to 
God (52), never more to deviate from the way of upward 
progress. 



CHAP. XXXV. 

THE REDEEMER RECOGNISED BY THE PERIOD OF HIS COMING. 

Christianity, according to our view, always searching 
into the depths of our being, has unveiled to us the 
necessity and the conditions of a redemption, the cha- 
racter with which a redeemer should be clothed, and 
even an infallible sign, whereby to seek for and recog- 
nise him in the field of history. This sign is a fact. 

The ages of man anterior to redemption claim to be 
judged in a profound spirit both of justice and mercy (53); 
faith should show itself impartial in respect to them. 
It is, however, impossible not to perceive, that, since 
the beginning of human annals, since the time in 
which, ascending through the darkness of antiquity, we 
see the first dawnings of history, evil, error, and 
crime went on increasing till the advent of Jesus 
Christ ; human activity followed its illegitimate alter- 
native, and more and more yielded to its evil impulse ; 
humanity retrograded; and mankind went continually 
further from God, by error after error and iniquity 
upon iniquity ; there was an increasing progression of 
perdition. (55) 



THE PERIOD OF HIS COMING. 145 

With Jesus Christ, mankind stops on the fatal road 
and goes back ; it retraces its steps towards God, 
towards truth and duty, towards charity and peace ; it 
re-ascends the long untrodden paths of knowledge and 
virtue ; it reconquers its likeness to God, and, since 
the advent of Jesus Christ, there is an increasing pro- 
gression of salvation. 

The cross of Christ (to use the language of St. Paul, 
who borrowed much of his poetical and striking imagery 
from the ancient games), the cross of Christ in this 
world, occupies the place of the goal in the arena, which 
it was necessary to double in order to return towards 
the prize. 

Jesus Christ is, therefore, the Redeemer. We have 
proofs of the fact, The success of the work sufficiently 
reveals its author ; and to deny redemption by Christ, 
is to undertake to deny that the mass of human errors 
and iniquities did go on increasing till the Christian 
era, and have continued to diminish ever since. 

This assertion is purely historical, and has the ad- 
vantage of placing these religious questions on the 
footing of history before making them pass through 
the crucible of pure theology : the assertion, however, 
does not go so far as to declare, that, during the period 
of declension before the gospel, and of restoration since, 
there are not to be found special exceptions, points of 
stopping and retrograde periods, both in the good and 
the evil direction. (56) What sky so overclouded as 
not to have its luminous spots ? What azure wholly 
without vapours ? Yes ; humanity, in its shipwreck, 
still retained many dikes, which here and there pre- 
sented barriers to the universal inundation of its pas- 
sions and iniquities ; and at times, also, even since the 
commencement of the upward progress of the race, it 

H 



146 THE REDEEMER RECOGNISED, ETC. 

has been often seen to stumble, and to suffer itself to 
be turned aside from its conquests in the way of virtue 
and truth. (57) 

Such great questions, however, claim to be viewed in 
their just proportions of magnitude, and as a whole. 
Looked at from on high — regarded as the sum of human 
destinies, the two progressions in different directions are 
certain, and the Cross of Christ has been raised as a 
saving goal, beyond which the progress of evil has never 
gone. (58) 

It was at the fatal and remarkable moment when evil 
had reached its culminating point, when imagination 
could conceive no excess left untried ; when the intellect 
despaired of truth, — conscience of morality, — and re- 
ligiousness of religion, — at which the manifest symp- 
toms of spiritual rottenness appeared in the human 
race, — at that moment Jesus appeared . . . . — This state 
of the world was embodied at that period in Roman 
society during the decline of the republic and under the 
first emperors. The characteristic of the age was, that 
man accepted his profound fall as a natural and neces- 
sary situation — even to the extent of regarding it as 
irremediable. Man appeared to have lost the sentiment 
of his perfectibility. The whole race resembled the 
bestiarii of the arena, w T ho regarded it as a matter of 
course to be slowly torn to pieces by wild beasts, in 
order to furnish a momentary amusement to their con- 
querors and masters. 

If man had lost every feeling of dignity, women had 
lost every emotion of pity. 

Pity is the last feeling which forsakes the heart of a 
woman : she loses modesty before she loses compassion : 
at that period both were extinct. The young patrician 
lady of Rome, languishing on downy couches of purple, 



POLYGAMIST AND MONOGAMIST PEOPLES. 147 

by a sign of her finger, doomed a gladiator to die, in 
order to amuse herself with his expiring agonies. 

Intellectual, moral, and religious despair chose for its 
emblem the skeleton of ivory or silver, which the pa- 
tricians, on their festive days, placed upon their tables at 
their orgies, as a memento of the rapidity of life and the 
duty of quick and unlimited enjoyment ; despair was so 
much the fashion of the time, that stoicism, the only moral 
strength of this period of antiquity, became much less 
a struggle than a resignation. 

It must not be forgotten that all this corruption be- 
came stagnant in the bosom of the best regulated and 
most intellectual civilisation of antiquity. 

Whilst stoicism abandoned the field, Jesus won the 
victory ; and from that moment the divine elements have 
prevailed in mankind. 

It will thus appear that, if it was time, it was not too 
late for the Redeemer to appear. The eye of God per- 
ceived some concealed and lost among that degraded 
multitude of whom the voice of Brutus asked " What is 
virtue? " and that of Pilate, " What is truth? " — some 
chosen minds, some simple and upright hearts, whom 
idolatry had disgusted with the grossness of its absur- 
dities, and who retained some knowledge of the true 
God. (59) Nothing more was wanting than to Chris- 
tianise their Theism. 



CHAP. XXXVI. 

POLYGAMIST AND MONOGAMIST PEOPLES. 

Human annals are divided into ancient and modern his- 
tory, — ancient in which the influence of evil prevailed, 
and modern, in which good has resumed the prepon- 

H 2 



148 POLYGAMIST AND MONOGAMIST PEOPLES. 

derance. The point of separation indicated by the fact 
of redemption, and the social condition of the Roman 
world being given as the extreme point of progress in the 
evil direction, all these historical appearances seem, at 
first sight, in one respect, to be deficient in justness. 
Are not these assumptions ? is this not to draw con- 
clusions from the particular to the general ? The Roman 
world, notwithstanding the ambitious pomp of that 
phrase, was not the world : what right, therefore, have 
we to fix upon Roman corruption as the finished type 
of corruption, and that epoch as the necessary period 
of redemption ? 

The two laws of social compact and inequality require 
that mankind should be divided into nations ; and, accord- 
ing to the rule, as the being so is the world, the nature 
in which our present phase of progress is being accom- 
plished has been arranged in consequence : the axis of 
our planet is inclined to the plane of the ecliptic ; the 
globe is found divided into zones and climates (60) ; the 
demarcations marked upon its surface have furnished 
natural boundaries, and, without aifecting the unity of 
the race, nationalities have been established and de- 
fined. (61) 

The most distinctive trait of difference which separates 
peoples and has decided their fate is monogamy or poly- 
gamy. 

Man is a social being only because he is endowed 
with affections. Family lies at the very foundation of 
society. And society is only family extended and ex- 
panded. (62) It was an inevitable result of establishing 
the constitution of a family as the social basis, that it 
should decide that of society at large, and that the prin- 
ciples adopted for regulating the relations, powers, and 
interests of the domestic hearth should be applied on a 



POLYGAMIST AND MONOGAMIST PEOPLES. 149 

greater scale to the affairs of the city — the domestic 
hearth of all. 

The whole human race is found subject to this law; 
as the family, so also the tribe, the nation. 

Monogamy is the natural family which the Creator 
has constituted. (63) 

Polygamy is the artificial family, falsely reconstituted 
by man. (64) 

These two forms of family are diametrically opposed 
to each other. The results are as different as the 
causes : the people who adopt monogamy are active ; 
those who practise polygamy, stationary. 

The history of the whole world is delineated in these -_ 
two immense and different frames. 

Immemorial Asia, the old and docile empire of poly- 
gamy, is what it has been. There are convulsions in its 
annals, but not movements ; its genius is struck with 
torpidity ; it knows not how to perfect any thing, not 
even that which it invents, not even its passions and its 
vices ; it uses its scimitar without pointing its aim ; it 
moves in a circle, and constantly returns to the same 
point. It also combines all those institutions which 
fetter, embarrass, and retard : systems of contemplative 
religion, worship of ancestors, division into castes ; the 
most varied, the most extended, and the most ingenious 
systems of privations and prohibitions one while under 
promises of heavenly reward, and at another enforced by 
fears of the most irremediable defilements ; finally, des- 
potism, as the only form of power ; the sale, the slavery 
of all, men, women, and children, as the pivot of social 
order ; and the refinements of ceremonies on every occasion 
of life to such an extent, that living becomes an affair of 
etiquette, always known beforehand, and repeated with- 
out end. 

H 3 



150 POLYGAMIST AND MONOGAMIST PEOPLES. 

Monogamist peoples, nations among whom the want of 
chastity is without and not within the family, among whom 
the one wife is the companion, and not the subject, the 
servant, or the slave, are always in movement and on the 
march. With them the present is a spur, which urges 
them onward ; they have still a future to conquer ; their 
lot is not wholly cast ; they have still incessantly to mo- 
dify or to recast it. Look at the West ; what activity, 
what ardour, what a thirst after amelioration and change, 
what an impetuosity of life ! Every thing which favours 
and develops the love and desire of innovation is to be 
met with in the western world : poetical and outward 
forms of religion, civil liberties, the participation of the 
people in public affairs ; public assemblies, stirring de- 
bate ; offices of magistracy and legislation ; arbitrary 
social habits extending even to continual changes in the 
fashions of dress. 

Individualised, these remarks remain in all their force 
and truth. 

The monogamist leaves a family, a true family, behind 
him. He thinks continually of providing for the future ; 
every thing with him does not finish with himself ; the 
sacred words of widow and orphan have a meaning in 
the language which he speaks — are those which are in 
his mouth. Monogamy counsels and sustains devoted- 
ness. 

The polygamist merely leaves behind a worthless 
herd of slaves (65) ; his death leaves them, so to speak, 
where he found them. Every thing for him ends with, 
himself: he has never been able to dream of living for 
others, however much others have lived for him ; he 
knows and anticipates no future except his own : poly- 
gamy begets and justifies selfishness. 

Whatever may be the dull monotony of social life in 



POLYGAMIST AND MONOGAMIST PEOPLES. 151 

the East, and how insatiable and indefatigable soever 
the minds of the western nations in their desires and 
active pursuits, these two general conditions do not 
exist without exceptions. Human sleep is not free 
from agitations and intervals; nor is the most ardent 
impetuosity without moments of slackness and relaxa- 
tion. The awakenings of Asia, and the lassitude of 
Europe, have never, however, been sufficiently pro- 
longed to efface this deep line of demarcation which 
distinguishes them, and which places national activity 
in juxtaposition with a legitimate family, and national 
indolence with that of an artificial family. 

This difference of social temperament, too, is more 
abiding in the one than in the other. When active 
peoples enter into close and continuous relations with 
stationary ones, they never think of divesting them- 
selves of their active habits, and of assuming those of 
effeminate indolence ; they enter as little as possible 
into these new habits, and are ill at ease in the midst 
of this useless and excessive repose. When, on the 
contrary, stationary nations come and mix with those 
which are active and progressive, the example of activity 
rouses and draws them out, and overcomes indolence : it 
is easy to conceive, in fact, that this love of ease and 
repose will not fatigue itself by seeking for imitators, 
and trouble itself to make proselytes for good or for 
evil. The property of activity, on the contrary, is to 
invade, and urge to imitation : the farther a man is in 
advance, the more impatient he becomes of those who 
lag behind. (66) 

We must not forget that this difference of races and 
of nations, some destined to take the lead, and others 
to look on and follow, is at the same time providential 
and human : providential, inasmuch as up to a certain 

H 4 



152 EFFECTS OF THIS DIFFERENCE. 

point it depends on natural causes, and contributes to 
the general advancement ; human, in as far as it, partly 
at least, depends upon the people themselves, and is 
weakened or aggravated by the character, good or bad, 
which they play, in a given time, upon the great theatre 
of the world. Thus one people may have lost its pre- 
eminence ; another may be still employed in acquiring 
its distinction. 

Finally, providentially considered, this system of 
difference, when favoured by Providence, is nothing 
more than the resource of particularism put in action, 
in order to favour the progress of universalism ; that is 
to say, when God employs some of his children in a 
particular work, it is for the good, proximate or distant, 
of the whole. (67) 

CHAP. XXXVII. 

EFFECTS OF THIS DIFFERENCE. 

These considerations lead to two grand results : 

(1.) The moment of redemption ought to be indi- 
cated, in the course of the ages of mankind, by the 
condition of the active races. 

(2.) It is especially towards the active races that re- 
demption should be at first directed (68), under pain of 
languishing indefinitely in the torpor of the stationary 
races. 

CHAP. XXXVIII. 

CONSIDERATION OF IDOLATRY. 

An apparent contradiction here presents itself, of which 
we must dispose : — 



CONSIDERATION OF IDOLATRY. 153 

Whence comes it, that the active races, in spite of 
monogamy, this powerful element of good of which they 
were in possession, should have reached (as it appears 
at least) the nearly irremediable point of corruption 
before the stationary races, whose moral atmosphere 
was poisoned by the foul air of polygamy ? 

It would suffice to answer that this inequality is 
merely apparent. Evil, amongst races in full action, 
is necessarily more outward and visible, more crying, 
more conspicuous, more disposed to invasions, to con- 
tempt of restraint, and to refinements in corruption. 
Among stationary peoples the evil would be private* 
more silent, and suffer even a higher degree of order 
and justice to subsist along with it. 

Asia has had monstrous despots, who were unable to 
find in the East perfumes enough for one of their se- 
raglios ; but Catiline, Tiberius, and Nero are charac- 
ters essentially European. 

The question, however, ought to be otherwise re- 
solved ; and it is religion, the most powerful tendency 
of the human soul, which furnishes the solution, and 
re-establishes the balance between the active and the 
stationary races. 

From the beginning of these inquiries it has been 
said that the religious power is the most influential ; it is 
the motive which impels man both highest and farthest ; 
and, without multiplying proofs, this spur is the only 
one which can rouse the stationary peoples, and excite 
them to action. Asia is never put in motion except 
under the irresistible pressure of a religious fatalism ; 
and if it is at present expiring, it is because its fanati- 
cism is expiring. 

Such is the predominance of the religious power 
over all our other faculties, that, once corrupted, it is a 

H 5 



154 CONSIDERATION OF IDOLATRY. 






powerful means of corrupting the others, and of hurry- 
ing on the corruption. (69) Such is the extent of this 
evil, that there is nothing abominable which the reli- 
gious sense, when corrupted, will not sanctify — perjury, 
prostitution, murder, suicide, infanticide, exposure of 
infants, and even parricide itself. 

The worst form which can be given to the religious 
tendency is idolatry. 

Idolatry, whose origin and intensity the common sys- 
tems of philosophy have proved unable to explain, pre- 
sents nothing embarrassing to subjective philosophy. 

If there exists in man a religious power, a tendency 
towards the ideal, towards the infinite, whose objective 
is a being who realises the ideal, and possesses the in- 
finite, it must infallibly happen that when the other 
tendencies change, when activity follows its evil alter- 
native, the religious instinct must change in its turn, 
and be so much the more mischievous in its corruption, 
as it is more powerful. The human being may begin 
by degenerating in detail; but he ends by degenerating 
en masse ; if one of his powers are perverted, all are 
perverted. How can reason, conscience, tenderness, 
sensibility, lose their purity and force, without religious- 
ness suffering also ? (TO) How could man forget him- 
self, and forget his fellow creatures, without forgetting 
God ? If we reverse the terms, the converse is equally 
true ; and the question here is by no means one of 
moral chronology, to inquire what tendency was first 
corrupted : there is no order in this disorder, and the 
human being most probably vitiated all his tendencies 
at the same time. It is sufficient for our argument 
that one being corrupt, all the rest must necessarily be 
corrupt also. Man, when fallen, would remain a re- 
ligious, as he remained a moral being : he would remain 



CONSIDERATION OF IDOLATRY. 155 

moral, possessed of affections and sensitiveness ; but 
his religiousness, like all his other faculties, would be 
degraded in the common degradation. 

Idolatry is nothing but the extreme point of cor- 
ruption of the religious sense. It is no more than error, 
evil, disorderly affections and habits of selfishness — an 
institution : idolatry is a forgetfulness. It is the degen- 
erescence and degradation of the ideal ; it is a limitation 
of the infinite ; it is the notion of God, such as fallen 
humanity could form and constitute it in religion and 
worship ; it is heaven seen from the depths of the fall, 
and what is there astonishing in the fact, that, from the 
depth of this abyss, man should for a long time have 
discerned merely a corner of the firmament, and be 
deceived with regard to its immensity and its splen- 
dour ? 

A growing resemblance between God and man is, as 
has been said, the end of creation, the normal direction 
of progress, the legitimate alternative of activity : the 
immense danger of idolatry consists in its being a com- 
plete reversal of the points of resemblance, — of the terms 
of comparison. (71) Under this institution, man is no 
longer engaged in assimilating himself to God; but, on the 
contrary, God in idolatry is more and more assimilated 
to man, heaven to earth, immortality to life, the conse- 
quents of death to the antecedents of death. The 
idolatrous worshipper places the Divinity on his own 
level (72), and this parity was rendered complete by the 
imputation even of his vices to the object of his 
worship: idolatry disfigures the supreme being ; idolatry 
is a mask put upon the face of divine truth. 

But idolatry overrides the monogamy and polygamy 
of antiquity, being more powerful than them both. 

Among the stationary races, idolatry became stag- 

H 6 



156 CHOICE OF THE SCENE FOR REDEMPTION. 

nant (73), so to speak, in the midst of their torpid cor- 
ruptions by consecrating their wickedness. (74) 

Amongst the active races, idolatry, variegated and 
multifarious, followed the rapid torrent of iniquities, in 
some degree facilitating their course and sanctifying them 
when needed. (75) 

And among the active races, idolatry necessarily 
exercised a more pernicious influence than among the 
stationary races, — an influence which largely counter- 
balanced the advantages of monogamy, for the very 
obvious reason, that idolatry, in some measure progressive 
amongst nations of this character, advanced from error 
to error. Each generation improved upon the absurd 
rites of its predecessor. The property of darkness is to 
go on increasing in intensity. 



CHAP. XXXIX. 

CHOICE OP THE DIVISION OF THE GLOBE, IN WHICH REDEMPTION 
WAS EFFECTED. 

The chief among the active races of antiquity always 
inhabited the countries washed by the Mediterranean : 
their cities covered its coasts ; their fleets ploughed its 
waves ; the exchange of ideas took place for ages along 
its shores, or from coast to coast ; the pagan Olympus 
was reflected in its seas, and the genius of activity seems 
to have emerged from its waters, like the goddess of 
beauty, according to the mythology of these same 
nations. 

At the extremity of this inland sea, and at an equal 
distance from the three continents — consequently in the 
historical centre of the ancient world, — the world with- 



OF THE HEBREW PEOPLE AS WITNESSES. 157 

drawing from God, — God placed the theatre of re- 
demption. (76) 

An historical view of great value presents itself in con- 
firmation of the preceding sketches : the only nations, 
not bordering on the Mediterranean, whose genius ex- 
ercised any true influence on the progress of mankind, 
whose activity made itself felt at a distance, and 
by bound upon bound penetrated into Europe, and 
among those destined to preserve and propagate Chris- 
tianity, were the Assyrians, Babylonians, and Persians. 
These races belonged to the first rivers of interior Asia, 
and not to the basin of the Mediterranean. These 
nations, too, were neighbours to the Jews, who dwelt 
between them and the Mediterranean ; the history of 
the Jews is inseparable from theirs ; a great and 
remarkable proof, that in selecting the promised land 
as a sanctuary for religious truth during the reign of 
polytheism, as the field of action for the wonders of 
redemption, Providence wished to prepare from afar its 
ways among men, and, as it were, to avail itself of the 
service of the most intellectual and powerful influences 
of which history has preserved any memorial, and of 
which mankind has gathered the fruits. 



CHAP. XL. 

SELECTION OF THE HEBREW PEOPLE, AS WITNESSES OP RE> 
DEMPTION AND GUARDIANS OP REVELATION. 



The people among whom redemption was to be mani- 
fested, the people for whom redemption would be not 
only a salvation, but an event in its history, took rank 
among the polygamist (77) and stationary races. (78) 



158 OF THE HEBREW PEOPLE AS WITNESSES. 

The quality of stationary people was better suited to 
this long and peaceful commission of patience, than that 
of an active race. The hereditary tranquillity of a race 
resting in polygamy more easily accorded with the duty 
of hoping, than the impetuous activity of monogamist 
nations. 

It has been already admitted, that it was necessary 
for redemption to be announced in order to be possible ; 
the people to whom God reserved the privilege of 
reckoning the Redeemer amongst its fellow-citizens, and 
of seeing his work, must necessarily have been, if not 
the first, at least the most clearly warned of his coming. 
Its commission was to wait for his appearance. (79) 

This waiting constituted the religious and social life, 
and the responsibility of this people. 

This divine commission was necessarily unique, since 
there could only be a single redemption and a single 
Redeemer. (80) 

The selection of the Jewish people to fulfil this com- 
mission was necessarily independent of every considera- 
tion of policy and human wisdom. (81) 

And as redemption itself was a free gift, the prepara- 
tory commission was also free, and constituted a charge, 
a task, a vocation, and not a reward, a glory acquired 
by services rendered to truth, or sacrifices made for 
virtue. (82) 

The choice of the Jewish nation, nevertheless, brought 
with it an immense responsibility for them. (83) 

Finally, this choice on the part of God was inde- 
pendent, inasmuch as any other nation, or any other 
race might equally have been chosen. (84) 

And, from all that precedes, there results this curious 
and pregnant remark, that Providence in some measure 
imposed upon itself the obligation of neglecting none 



OP THE HEBREW PEOPLE AS WITNESSES. 159 

of the necessary aid to enable the race of Abraham to 
acquit itself of this duty. (85) 

Revelation, the testimony and indispensable condition 
of a redemption, could only be found in the hands of a 
nation for which was divinely destined the dangerous 
advantage (dangerous in consequence of its responsi- 
bility) of being present as an actor and witness of the 
facts of redemption, and being the first to taste of its 
advantages. (86) 

That nation, like all nations, had its historians, poets, 
moralists, and theologians ; and its literature would be 
the expression of revelation, according to the established 
principle that literature is the expression of society, or, 
to speak more correctly, of that which society thinks 
and believes. 

It was consequently matter of absolute necessity, that 
revelation, in its form and language, should be Jewish. 

Here again the idea recurs, that revelation, like re- 
demption, will have a double aspect ; as the announce- 
ment and history of him who is Emanuel and our 
brother, and who is only our Redeemer because he 
is both, revelation will be divine and human. How 
could it teach the world that which it ought to know 
of Emanuel unless its teaching was divine, and how 
could it escape the necessity of being partly human, 
since it necessarily constitutes a literature ? 



160 



NOTES TO BOOK III. 



(1.) " Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full 
of trouble." Job, xiv. 1. " For all our days are passed in thy 
wrath/' (the best of our days is but labour and sorrow). Ps. xc. Q. 
" Many are the afflictions (even) of the righteous." Ps. xxxiv. 20. 
" And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, 
received not (in this world) the promise : " that is, perfect hap- 
piness. Heb. xi. 39- " For we that are in this tabernacle do 
groan, being burdened." 2 Cor. v. 4. " For we are but of yes- 
terday, and know nothing." Job, viii. 9. The wisdom of Israel 
summed up all the imperfections of the things of this life in the 
celebrated passage — " Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, 
vanity of vanities ; all is vanity." Ecc. i. 2. Who is not 
struck with the eloquent and bitter complaints of Ecclesiastes ? 
" And whatsoever mine eyes desired I kept not from them ; I 
withheld not my heart from any joy ; for my heart rejoiced in 
all my labour ; . . . . and, behold, all was vanity and vexation of 
spirit." ii. 10, 11. Jesus declares their absolute insufficiency in 
his reply to the Samaritan woman : " Whosoever drinketh of this 
water shall thirst again." John, iv. 13. In this situation, which 
appears desperate, despair itself is no resource ; " the sorrow of 
the world worketh death," 2 Cor. vii. 10., any more than world- 
liness : Jesus gives not peace " as the world giveth." John, xiv. 
27. 

(2.) " If we say that we have not sinned, we make him (God) 
a liar." 1 John, i. 10. "But the Scripture hath concluded all 
under sin." Gal. iii. 22. fi Both Jews and Gentiles . . . they are 
all under sin ; as it is written, there is none righteous, no, not 
one." Rom. iii. 9> 10. 

(3.) "No man cometh unto the Father, but by me," said 
Jesus. John, xiv. 6. " For through him we both (Jews and 
Gentiles) have access by one Spirit unto the Father." Eph. ii. 18. 
" But we all are changed into the same image, from glory to 
glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." 2 Cor. iii. 18. " And 



NOTES TO BOOK lit. 161 

this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, 
and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent," John, xvii. 3 ; " in whom 
we have boldness and access (to God) with confidence by the 
faith of him" (in him). Eph. iii. 12. 

Our definition of Redemption, which perfectly explains why 
" without faith it is impossible to please God," Heb. xi. 6, is con- 
firmed — a remarkable fact — by the nature and condemnation of 
the sin called unpardonable. " Wherefore I say unto you (are the 
words of Jesus), all manner of sin and blasphemy shall be for- 
given unto men ; but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall 
not be forgiven unto men. And whosoever speaketh a word 
against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him ; but whosoever 
speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, 
neither in this world, neither in the world to come." Matt. xii. 
31, 32 ; Mark, iii. 28, 29. Commentators have taken a great 
deal of trouble in different ways to discover what sin it is on 
which a sentence so terrible is pronounced ; to us it seems incon- 
ceivable that the least doubt on the point could ever have been 
entertained. It is evident that Jesus alludes to the sin just 
committed by the Pharisees, who, after witnessing one of his 
miracles, said to the people — " This fellow doth not cast out 
devils, but by Beelzebub, the prince of the devils," Matt. xii. 
24 ; Mark, iii. 22 ; and as if to prevent any possibility of mis- 
understanding, St. Mark, after narrating the terrible sentence, 
adds that Jesus so expressed himself, " Because they said, He 
hath an unclean spirit." iii. 30. We conclude, then, that the un- 
pardonable sin consists in attributing to Satan the work of God. 
To take the Redeemer of the world for an emissary and agent of 
Satan ; to see in redemption a work of Satan, that is to say, the 
very contrary of a redemption, and consequently to draw nearer 
to Satan by the help of the very resource granted for the opposite 
purpose, that of drawing nearer to God ; this is, indeed, an un- 
pardonable sin, according to our definition of salvation, since it is 
to annihilate for the whole existence the means of returning 
towards God, and to employ in putting on a resemblance of 
Satan, the only means bestowed to enable man to put on a re- 
semblance of the Creator. We can, therefore, understand how 
to "speak against" the son of man, against the Messiah "like 
unto us," and to disown him as the Redeemer, even after a 
striking miracle, is a pardonable sin — a transgression which does 
not leave the soul without resource — an error which does not 
pervert all truth and all holiness — an error from which there are 
several ways to return ; and how, on the other hand, to substitute, 
if we may thus speak, Satan for God in the fact of a miracle, is 



162 NOTES TO BOOK III. 

to plunge, through hardened insincerity, into a voluntary and des- 
perate error, which shuts the gate of the heart against any new 
call of grace ; to despoil one's own soul of its redemption for 
both existences ; for there is, as far as we know, but one redemp- 
tion for both. 

(4.) " When his disciples heard it, they were exceeding! 
amazed, saying, who, then, can be saved ? But Jesus beheld 
them, and said unto them, with men this is impossible ; but with 
God all things are possible." Matt. xix. 25, 26 ; Mark, x. 26, 27 ; 
Luke, xviii. 26, 27- (i For he is not a man, as I am, that I 
should answer him, and we should come together in judgment. 
Neither is there any daysman (arbiter) betwixt us, that might lay 
his hand upon us both." Job, ix. 32, 33. " Being justified freely 
by his grace." Rom. iii. 24. " For by grace ye are saved through 
faith, and that not of yourselves ; it is the gift of God." Eph. ii. 
8. (< . . . the gospel which was preached of me," says St. Paul, " is 
not after man." Gal. i. 11. Again, " Who (God) hath saved us, 
and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, 
but according to his own purpose and grace." 2 Tim. i. Q. " . . . 
according to his mercy he saved us," Titus, iii. 5 ; and "herein 
is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us." 1 John, iv. 
10. "Now to him that worketh is the reward (salary) not 
reckoned of grace, but of debt," Rom. iv. 4 ; and is redemption 
a reward ? 

(5) Jesus, foreseeing the great gain which would accrue to his 
mission by his death, said to the Jews — " And I, if I be lifted 
up from the earth (on the cross) will draw all men unto me." 
John, xii. 32. " . . . one died for ail." 2 Cor. v. 14. " Who 
(God) will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the know- 
ledge of the truth." 1 Tim. ii. 4. " Who (Christ) gave himself 
a ransom for all." 1 Tim. ii. 6. " For the grace of God, that 
bringeth salvation, hath appeared to all men." Titus, ii. 11. 
"... that he (Christ), by the grace of God, should taste death 
for every man." Heb. ii. Q. "And he is the propitiation for our 
sins ; and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole 
world." 1 John, ii. 2. 

(6.) "But not as the offence so also is the free gift." (Shall 
it not be with the gift of God as it was with the fall of man ?) 
" For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the 
grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus 
Christ, hath abounded unto many .... For if by one man's 
offence death reigned by one, much more they which receive 
abundance of grace, and of the gift of righteousness, shall reign 
in life by one, Jesus Christ : therefore, as by the offence of one, 






NOTES TO BOOK III. 163 

judgment came upon all men to condemnation, even so by the 
righteousness of one, the free gift came upon all men unto justi- 
fication of life. For as by one man's disobedience many were 
made (treated as) sinners ; so by the obedience of one shall many 
be made righteous." Rom. v. 15 — 19. " For since by man came 
death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in 
Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." 1 Cor. 
xv. 21, 22. Consequently, " whosoever believeth in him " shall 
fi not perish, but have eternal life." John, iii. 15. " Whosoever 
shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved." Acts, ii. 21. 
" ... we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father." Eph. 
ii. 18. " For he (Christ) is our peace, who hath made both 
(Jews and Gentiles) one, and hath broken down the middle wall 
of partition between us ; having abolished in his flesh (in his 
cross) the enmity." Eph. ii. 14 — 16. 

At the very dawn of the Gospel dispensation, this universality 
is announced by Simeon, a witness of the nativity : (t Thy salva- 
tion, which thou hast prepared before the face of all people." 
Luke, ii. 30, 31. This simultaneous, sympathetic fall, this com- 
munity of redemption, this, as it were, family affair, is based on 
the fact of the unity of the human race. (See the texts in Book V. 
Chap. Liu. note 1.4.) 

(7.) Even under the old covenant, we find Ezekiel saying to 
his fellow-citizens — a For I have no pleasure in the death of 
him that dieth, saith the Lord God ; wherefore turn yourselves, 
and live ye." Ezek. xviii. 32. " For God so loved the world, 
that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in 
him should not perish, but have everlasting life." John, iii. 16. 
" But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we 
were yet sinners, Christ died for us." Rom. v. 8. " In this 
was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent 
his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through 
him." 1 John, iv. 9. 

(8.) It is in this sense that Christ is called " Alpha and 
Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last." 
Rev. i. 8 — 11. (See the texts in Book -VI., Chap, lxxvii. note 
104.) 

(9.) This universal proclamation of salvation, which St. Paul, 
in the strongest terms, declares to the Colossians — "The Gospel, 
which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature 
which is under heaven," Col. i. 23, — this magnificent applica- 
tion of the law of social compact — is but a deception, if there 
exists a single human being who cannot be saved. 

(10.) From the very dawn of the Gospel, the free use which 



164 NOTES TO BOOK HI. 

would be made of it was announced ; " Simeon said unto Mary 
his mother, behold, this child is set for the fall and rising again 
of many in Israel, and for a sign which shall be spoken against." 
Luke, ii. 34. To be constrained to carry the cross of the Lord, 
Matt, xxvii. 32; Mark, xv. 21, would not be to " take up " his 
cross. Matt. xvi. 24 ; Luke, ix. 23. Jesus, in his lamentation 
over Jerusalem, whose children he " would have gathered together, 
even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings," expresses 
this simple but terrible reproach, " ye would not ! " Matt xxiii. 
37 ; Luke, xiii. 34. He says again, " It must needs be that 
offences come." Matt, xviii. 7; Luke, xvii. 1. This free use of 
Christianity even goes so far, that the instrument of peace may 
become an instrument of war ; and this Jesus foresaw and de- 
clared : " Think not that I am come to send peace on earth ; I 
came not to send peace, but a sword : for I am come to set a 
man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her 
mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law : 
and a man's foes shall be they of his own household." Matt. x. 
34 — 36. " I am come to send fire on the earth; and what will 

I if it be already kindled ? " Luke, xii. 49 — 53. Again, " we 
are saved by hope." Rom. viii. 24. And it is in the sense of 
an explicit recognition of free-will under the empire of redemp- 
tion as before the Gospel dispensation, that the angel says to the 
apostle — "He that is unjust, let him be unjust still; and he 
which is filthy, let him be filthy still ; and he that is righteous, 
let him be righteous still ; and he that is holy, let him be holy 
still." Rev. xxii. 11. (See Book I. Chap. iv. note 10, and 
Chap. xi. note 45 ; Book IV. Chap. xlv. note 23, and Chap. 
xlix. note 59. 

(11.) " These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, 
saying, go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of 
the Samaritans enter ye not : but go rather to the lost sheep of 
the house of Israel." Matt. x. 5, 6. " To whom only I am sent." 
xv. 42. Yet Christ had also said, " And other sheep I have, 
which are not of this fold ; them, also, I must bring," John, 
x. 1 6 ; but in their proper time. ..." It (the Gospel of Christ) 
is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth ; 
to the Jew first, and also to the Greek." Rom. i. 16. The 
apostles followed this order in their ministry. " It was neces- 
sary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you," 
said Paul and Barnabas to the Jews of Antioch. Acts, xiii. 46. 

II The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound 
thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it 
goeth." John, xii. 8. Simple, but striking images, emblematic 



NOTES TO BOOK III. 165 

of the free diffusion of God's grace. " God, who is the Saviour 
of all men." 1 Tim. iv. 10. 

(12.) "Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, 
and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption." 1 Cor. i. 
30. " For he is not a Jew which is one outwardly ; neither is 
that circumcision which is outward in the flesh : but he is a Jew 
which is one inwardly : and circumcision is that of the heart, in 
the spirit and not in the letter." Rom. ii. 28, 2,9- " He that 
believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself " (receives 
in himself the witness of God). 1 John, v. 1 0. " But though 
our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by 
day." 2 Cor. iii. 16. I pray God " that he would grant you, 
according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with 
might by his Spirit in the inner man." Eph. iii. 16. And 
what is there more personal to each of us than his light or 
darkness ? " For ye were sometimes (formerly) darkness, but 
now are ye light in the Lord : walk as children of light." Eph. 
v. 8. " Examine yourselves whether ye be in the faith ; prove 
your own selves : know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus 
Christ is in you . . . ? " 2 Cor. xiii. 5. 

(IS.) Jesus said: " When ye have lifted up the Son of man 
(on the cross) then shall ye know that I am he." John, viii. 28. 

(14.) "God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto him- 
self," 2 Cor. v. 19 ; and Christ declares, " I can of mine own 
self do nothing," John, v. 30 ; et I am not come of myself," vii. 
28 ; viii. 42 ; " My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me," 
vii. 16 ; " I speak to the world those things which I have heard 
of him (of the Father)," viii. 26 ; " As my Father hath taught 
me, I speak these things," viii. 28 ; " The truth which I have 
heard of God," viii. 40 ; •'* For I have not spoken of myself; but 
the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I 
should say, and what I should speak," xii. 49 ; " the words that 
I speak unto you, I speak not of myself : but the Father that 
dwelleth in me, he doeth the works," xiv. 10; "for I came 
down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him 
that sent me." vi. 38. Again, the gospel of Christ tl is the 
power of God." Rom. i. 16. " Christ glorified not himself to 
be made an high priest ; but he that said unto him, Thou art 
ray Son." Heb. v. 5. Christ himself said : " My Father is 
greater than I," (or above me,) John, xiv. 28 : and yet such is 
the simultaneousness of the activity of God and Christ in the 
work of redemption, that Christ has said : "I am in the Father 
and the Father in me," John, xiv. 10 ; hence this exchange of 
glory in the common work : " Glorify thy Son, that thy Son 



166 NOTES TO BOOK III. 

also may glorify thee/' xvii. 1 : and of knowledge to accomplisl 
it: "As the Father knoweth me, even so know 1 the Father/ 
x. 15. This union of God and Christ in the work of redemp- 
tion is so profound, that the attacks of impiety and iniquity are 
raised both against God and Christ; it is in this sense that St. 
Paul applies to Jesus a passage of the psalmist, Ps. lxix. 9, 
when defending the glory of the Lord, which appeared to be 
impugned by the disasters of. the captivity of Babylon : " The 
reproaches of them that reproached thee fell on me," Rom. xv. 3 ; 
the reproaches addressed to him of whom it is said : " Therefore 
God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above 
thy fellows (hath anointed thee sole high priest for the happiness 
of mankind)." Ps. xlv. 7 ; Heb. i. 9« 

(15.) " In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was 
with God, and the Word was God." John, i. 1. " I and my 
Father/' said Jesus, " are one," x. 30 j and in the spiritual king- 
dom of God, st all things that the Father hath are mine." xvi. 
15; xvii. 10. " For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the 
Godhead bodily " (that is, in his being), Col. ii. 9 ', so that the 
gospel reveals him to the world, from his very birth, as an ie Ema- 
nuel, which, being interpreted, is, God with us." Matt. i. 23. 

We should require to write a separate book on the subject 
were we to attempt to detail and discuss the study given, during 
eighteen centuries of Christianity, to the sense of the word trans- 
lated in our versions the Word. This translation very imper- 
fectly renders the idea of St. John ; but without seeking in a 
simple note to defend our opinion, we shall confine ourselves 
to remarking, that the words, speech, or word, or language 
imply the idea of thought, intelligence, knowledge ; there is no 
speech where there is no idea, and speech is idea or thought 
manifested. The explanation of the proem of St. John's gospel 
should, therefore, in our opinion, rest entirely on this basis ; and 
it will then be in conformity with the meaning of the word logos 
in the ancient languages and writings. Applied to Jesus, this 
word, then, simply means that Jesus is God manifested, God 
become objective. In the subjective sense of the term, in the 
sense of idea, intelligence, knowledge, it would signify the infinite 
Being remaining in his infinity, unknown, invisible, unrevealed ; 
in the objective sense, that of word, it signifies the infinite Being, 
not content to remain wrapped up in his infinity, revealing 
himself by an intermediate agent, an agent, therefore, necessarily 
divine. 

(See, on the sense in which the creation is attributed to Christ, 
Book VI. Chap, lxxvii. note 104.) 



NOTES TO BOOK III. 167 

(16.) Cl He that seeth me (he who knows me as well as an 
object can be known by attentive observation) seeth him that 
sent me." John, xii. 45. 

(17.) " The Word," it is said, existed " in the beginning," 
John, i. 1 : it was in order to bring this idea nearer to our 
conceptions and measures of duration that Christ said : " And 
no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from 
heaven, even the Son of man which is (was) in heaven." John, 
iii. 13. " ... ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where he 
was before." vi. 62. Cl Before Abraham was, I am" (I was), 
viii. 58 ; and in his principal prayer he asks again of God the 
glory which he had " before the world was." xvii. 5. 

Of these texts, one only, John, iii. 13, can be disputed; the 
others declare in the most explicit manner the celestial and extra- 
temporal existence of the Son of God. We think with those 
commentators who are the most worthy of being relied upon, 
that these are the only passages which leave no doubt on the 
point, and admit of no other sense ; but they are sufficient. 
The less positive and explicit passage, John, iii. 13, might be 
understood thus : iC to ascend up to heaven " signified, in the 
language of the Jewish schools, to possess extraordinary know- 
ledge ; things unknown were, according to this phraseology, 
considered as hidden in the skies : the sense would then be, no 
man except me can teach heavenly things ; and the connection of 
ideas seems to favour this interpretation : Jesus has just said to 
Nicodemus : (C If I have told you (Jewish doctors) earthly things, 
and ye believe not, how shall ye believe if I tell you of heavenly 
things ? " " Heavenly things ; " this phrase expresses the complete 
spiritualism of redemption ; they are what Christ has elsewhere 
called " the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven," Matt. xiii. 1 1 ; 
and this view of the mission of our Saviour was, in fact, the 
most difficult possible for a Jewish doctor to adopt. But this 
interpretation involves a kind of tautology : no man knows these 
hidden things but ... he who knows them ; and the last 
passage, " which is (was) in heaven," must be taken to signify 
that he who knows these things has learned them by previous 
divine communication ; this signification is evidently forced ; 
and it is much more probable that we shall be right in adopting 
the sense which naturally presents itself, and counting this de- 
claration among the number of those which attest the divine 
existence of Jesus. 

(18.) " God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful 
flesh." Rom. viii. 3. " But made himself of no reputation, 
and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the 






168 NOTES TO 

likeness of men . . . being found in fashion as a man." 
Phil. ii. 7, 8. "For there is one God, and one Mediator 
between God and man, the man Christ Jesus.' 1 Tim. ii.|5. 
" For both he that sanctifieth (Christ) and they who are sancti- 
fied (men) are all of one (of the same nature) ; for which 
cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren . . . For as much 
then as the children (of God) are partakers of flesh and blood, 
he also himself likewise took part of the same ... in all things 
it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren . . . For in 
that he himself hath suffered, being tempted, he is able to succour 
them that are tempted." Heb. ii. 11. 14. 17, 3 8. "For we 
have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling 
of our infirmities ; but was in all points tempted like as we are," 
iv. 15; and this quality of man in the Redeemer is so inherent in 
redemption, that he retains it in the exercise of his highest pre- 
rogative, that of verifying the effects of redemption in judging 
mankind : God, says St. Paul, " hath appointed a day, in the 
which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man 
whom he hath ordained." Acts, xvii. 31. 

This perfect similitude of the Redeemer and the redeemed, 
without which a redemption cannot be conceived, was guaranteed 
by all the outward conditions which belong to the common lot of 
humanity — fatigue: "Jesus, therefore, being wearied with his 
journey, sat thus upon the well," John, iv. 6; hunger: " Now 
in the morning, as he returned into the city, he hungered," 
Matt. xxi. 18 ; Mark, xi. 12 ; thirst: on the cross "Jesus saith, 
I thirst," John, xix. 28 ; and after his death, the insensibility of 
a corpse : " one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and 
forthwith came thereout blood and water." xix. 34. 

But this similitude is much more worthy of attention under 
its moral aspect : he knew joy : on hearing of the first successes 
of his disciples we read that " Jesus rejoiced in spirit," Luke, x. 
21 : he knew grief ; in the midst of the mourning for the death 
of Lazarus " he groaned in spirit and was troubled . . . Jesus 
wept," John, xi. 33. 35 ; he knew friendship : he " loved 
Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus," so well that the Jews were 
astonished at the warmth of his tenderness, and said to each 
other, " Behold how he loved him ! " xi. 5. 36 ; he sometimes 
felt disdain ; it was a sign of disdain which he made when the 
Pharisees brought tohim a woman taken in adultery : "Jesus stooped 
down, and with his finger wrote on the ground," viii. 6 ; thus 
leaving them to themselves instead of making any reply. He 
went up " as it were in secret" to the feast of Tabernacles, after 
the departure of his family. When he arrived near Emmaus 



NOTES TO BOOK III. 169 

on the evening of the day of resurrection, in order to try his 
disciples it is said " he made as though, (or feigned that) he 
would have gone further/' Luke, xxiv. 28 ; which is the indis- 
putable sense of the word used by the Evangelist. By all these 
signs we, as men, recognise a man, who lived as we live. (See 
Jiook IV. Chap. li. note 83.) 

The same observation applies to Christ as a member of a 
family. (See Book III. Chap. xxxn. note 27.) He fulfilled 
the duties which this position imposes on youth ; he {i was 
subject unto " his parents, Luke, ii. 51, even until death : in the 
midst of the horrors of crucifixion, he gives one of his last 
thoughts to his mother, recommending her to the care of St. 
John in sublime words : " When Jesus, therefore, saw his mother, 
and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he saith unto his 
mother, Woman, behold thy son ! Then saith he to the dis- 
ciple, Behold thy mother !" John, xix. 26', 27. 

It is essential to remark that Jesus did not allow his family 
ties ever to be considered as affording the slightest privilege ; for 
this would have been at variance with the spirit of his redemption. 
It was in this sense that he said : if For whosoever shall do the 
will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, 
and sister, and mother," Matt. xii. 50 ; Mark, iii. 34 ; Luke, 
viii. 21 ; and that he replied, when " a certain woman of the 
company lifted up her voice, and said unto him, Blessed is the 
womb that bare thee, and the paps which thou hast sucked . . . 
Yea, rather blessed are they that hear the word of God, and 
keep it." Luke, xi. 27, 28. 

(19 ) It is said that the Saviour " came not to succour angels," 
but men, Heb. ii. 16 ; and that "the word dwelt," or lived 
"among us," John, i. 14. The former of these texts is often 
translated, <: he took not on him the nature," or resemblance 
" of angels," but that of men. This translation of the passage, 
which makes it entirely inconsistent with the ideas which both 
precede and follow, is quite erroneous : the Greek word used 
never signifies to take on, any more than the word angels can 
signify the resemblance or nature of angels. St. Paul speaks 
at the end of the chapter of delivering " them who, through fear 
of death, were all their lifetime subject to bondage," Heb. ii. 15 ; 
and it is men who need this deliverance. 

(20.) " Now a mediator is not a mediator of one ; but (and) 
God is one." Gal. iii. 20. 

This verse presents in the original such extreme conciseness, 
that it has become one of the stumbling-blocks of commentators, 
who reckon hundreds of various interpretations of it. In our 

I 



170 NOTES TO BOOK III. 

opinion, when the words by themselves are at once so clear and 
so uncertain, the most simple sense, the most natural construction, 
should be preferred, and the most ingenious interpretations are 
the least likely to be correct. It has been justly remarked that 
this verse forms a sort of parenthesis, that it can be left out 
without changing, or taking any thing from the apostle's train of 
reasoning, the aim of which is to demonstrate to the Judaizing 
Christians of Galatia that the law, of which Moses was the 
mediator, is of less importance than the promise of salvation 
given to Abraham. In the course of his argument, St. Paul 
brings forward the very natural objection, " Wherefore then 
serveth the law?" and replies to it, u It was added because of 
transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise 
was made" (Christ) ; which means that the posterity of Abraham 
was too rebellious against God to preserve the promise without 
the help of the law : and fearful then of having too greatly irritated 
the national and religious pride of the Galatians by thus depre- 
ciating the nation and the law, he again raises what he has just 
depreciated by adding, that this law " was ordained (published) 
by angels in the hand of (by means of) a mediator;" and he 
then exp]ains the transgressions of which he has spoken by 
saying : " Now a mediator is not a mediator of one ; but (and) 
God is one;" God, who has kept and will keep his promises, 
while your ancestors have not kept theirs. This interpretation 
is quite in accordance with the whole of this difficult passage. 

(21.) " And, without controversy, great is the mystery of 
godliness : he who was manifest in the flesh was justified by the 
spirit (that is, by the revelation, the effusions and the gifts of 
the Spirit of God), seen of angels (known in his divine majesty 
and in his mission of mercy by the angels of heaven), preached 
unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into 
glory." 1 Tim. iii. 16. This remarkable passage, a summary 
of the new covenant, is one of the most uncertain texts. The 
most ancient manuscripts, the old versions, the passages in 
the fathers, Greek and Latin, who have cited it, and the 
omission of this verse in their controversial writings, where it 
would naturally be expected to take its place according to the 
text and sense adopted, every thing seems to concur in rendering 
the correct version impossible to verify. The manuscripts, the 
ancient editions and versions, the quotations in the fathers, pre- 
sent the three following ways of writing the passage : the mys- 
tery is great, God was manifest in the flesh ; or, who (in the 
masculine) was manifest in the flesh, the pronoun who referring 
to Christ ; or, lastly, which (in the neuter) was manifest in the 






NOTES TO BOOK III. 171 

flesh, the which referring to mystery. The first version is 
now rejected by most critics ; it is certain that it is not sup- 
ported by most of the authorities and manuscripts, and that one 
of the oldest manuscripts was disfigured, in order to insure the 
success of this writing of the text, by an addition which was 
betrayed by the different colour of the ink. Moreover, it gives 
an inadmissible sense to which, as it seems to us, sufficient 
attention has not been paid : if the word God is used at the 
commencement of the verse, what can be the signification of the 
expression which terminates it, " received up into glory," which 
recalls the ascension to mind ? how could it be said of God that 
he was " received up into glory ?" it is a style of writing entirely 
foreign to the epistles of St. Paul. The two other versions a r e 
almost alike in sense, for the word mystery may very well indicate 
Christ; this would be no departure from the style of the apostle, 
nor from the use made of this word by the fathers. But the 
most numerous and oldest authorities favour the version which 
gives the Greek pronoun in the masculine, and refers it to Christ ; 
then this concise and striking enumeration of the wonders of the 
Gospel fully justifies the first position of the apostle, the point 
from which he starts, viz. the greatness of these mysteries. 

(22.) " No man," said Jesus, " taketh it (my life) from me, 
but I lay it down of myself : I have power to lay it down, and I 
have power to take it again." John, x. 18. And even at the 
moment of his arrest he says to Peter : " Thinkest thou that 
I cannot now pray to my father, and he shall presently (imme- 
diately) give me more than twelve (innumerable) legions of 
angels " as defenders ? Matt. xxvi. 53. According to St. Paul 
he " gave himself " for us, Gal. i. 4 ; ii. 20 ; 1 Tim. ii. 6 ; Titus, 
ii. 14: " for even Christ pleased not himself," Rom. xv. 3; . . . 
" though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye 
through his poverty (charity) might be rich." 2 Cor. viii. 9« 
" Hereby perceive we the love of God (of Jesus Christ) because 
he laid down his life for us." 1 John, iii. 16. 

(23.) St. Luke narrates that, after the temptations with which 
Jesus was assailed at the commencement of his ministry, and 
which were not those of a mere man, but of a divine redeemer, 
the devil, having " ended all the temptation, departed from him 
for a season," Luke, iv. 1 3 ; and at the moment when he uttered 
the first predictions of his sufferings and death, the embraces and 
affectionate reproaches of his disciples were a temptation to him : 
" Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far 
from thee, Lord : this shall not be unto thee. But he turned, 
and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan (tempter) . , „, 

i 2 



172 NOTES TO BOOK III. 

thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be 
of men." Matt. xxvi. 23 ; Mark, viii. 33. 

(24.) The Baptist had taught that God would not give " the 
spirit by measure" to the Messiah. John, iii. 34. " All things," 
said Christ, " are delivered unto me (taught unto me) of my 
father," Matt. xi. 27 ; Luke, x. 22 ; and the context shows that 
the words " all things" here signify all the lessons of redemp- 
tion which the world was to receive from the Saviour. " I know 
whence I came," John, viii. 14, said Jesus ; who knew il that the 
Father had given all things into his hands," xiii. 3, and that 
God " heard him always," xi. 42 : and, as regarded his death, 
he knew beforehand " that his hour was come that he should 
depart out of this world unto the Father." xiii. 1. Hence all his 
predictions of his sufferings, and hence the tranquil firmness with 
which, though not without emotion, he looked forward to this 
terrible issue: "Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I 
say ? Father, save me from this hour : but for this cause 
came I unto this hour," xii. 27. . . . " knowing all things 
that should come upon him" . . . xviii. 4. 

(25.) " Master, rebuke thy disciples," said some Pharisees on 
hearing the acclamations at his entry into Jerusalem. Jesus, 
sure of his glory, replied : " I tell you, that if these should hold 
their peace, the stones would immediately cry out." Luke, 
xix. 40. 

(26.) In his last prayer, as high priest of mankind, Jesus 
says : " I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do," 
John, xvii. 4 ; and at the moment of expiring, he rendered to 
himself the simple, yet grand testimony, " It is finished ! ,J 
xix. 30. 

(27.) " God sent forth his son, made of a woman," Gal. iv. 4 ; 
" made of the seed of David according to the flesh," Rom. i. 3 ; 
and "sprung out of Judah." Heb. vii. 14. (See Book III. 
Chap. xxxi. note 18.) 

(28.) "And the word was made flesh" (that is, man), John, 
i. 14 ; and, at the commencement of his ministry, we read that 
Jesus was " about thirty years of age." Luke, iii. 23. 

(29.) "Jesus, when he had cried with a loud voice, yielded 
up the ghost." Matt, xxvii. 50 ; Mark, xv. 37 ; Luke, xxiii. 46 ; 

John, xix. 30 " They took him down from the tree, and 

laid him in a sepulchre." Acts, xiii. 29. 

(30.) . . . " It was not possible that he should be holden of 
it" (of death). Acts, ii. 24. "Christ must needs have risen 
again from the dead." xvii. 3. 

(31.) Had it not been for the prophecies announcing the 



NOTES TO BOOK III. 173 

Messiah, the Jews would have been justified in saying of Jesus: 
" We know that God spake unto Moses : as for this fellow, we 
know not from whence he is." John, ix. 29- 

(32.) " Search the Scriptures . . . they are they which testify 
of me." John, v. 3Q. " Moses wrote of me," said Christ to the 
Jews ; " but (and) if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye 
believe my words ?" v. 46, 47. " But how then (if the angels 
should deliver me) shall the Scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it 
must be ? " Matt. xxvi. 54. " O fools ! and slow of heart," 
said Jesus to the two disciples on the road to Emraaus, f< to be- 
lieve all that the prophets have spoken. . . . And, beginning at 
Moses and all the prophets, lie expounded unto them in all the 
Scriptures the things concerning himself." Luke, xxiv. 25 — 27. 
" But those things which God before had showed by the mouth 
of all his prophets, that Christ should suffer, he hath so fulfilled," 
Acts, iii. 18 ; and the first preaching of the Gospel consisted in 
" showing by the Scriptures that Jesus was Christ." xviii. 28. 
(See, on the number of prophecies and their different degrees of 
clearness, Book IV. Chap. xlix. notes 5<) and 60.) 

(33.) It was through a vague desire not to degrade the advent 
of the Messiah to the level of the common births and works of 
this world that some minds had adopted a prejudice of which the 
Gospel presents traces : e< When Christ cometh, no man knoweth 
whence he is," said the Jews of Jerusalem in justification of their 
doubts, John, vii. 27 ; and others were deceived by his humanity 
itself, so entire was its accordance Avith ours: "Is not this the 
carpenter's son?" said they ; "is not his mother called Mary? 
and his brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas ? 
And his sisters, are they not all with us ? " Matt. xiii. 55, 56 ; 
Mark, vi. 3. " Is not this Jesus the son of Joseph, whose father 
and mother we know ? how is it then that he saith, I came down 
from heaven?" John, vi. 42. "For neither did his brethren 
believe in him." vii. 5. From the same point of view, his death 
was a " stumbling-block and foolishness," 1 Cor. i. 23 ; and the 
differences between the Jews and Christians, " but certain ques- 
tions of their own superstition, and of one Jesus, which was dead, 
whom Paul affirmed to be alive." Acts, xxv. 19. 

(34.) " Abraham rejoiced to see my day ; and he saw it (in 
idea, in hope), and was glad." John, viii. 56. " For verily I 
say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have desired 
to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them ; and 
to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them." 
Matt. xiii. 17; Luke, x 24. "And the Scripture, foreseeing 
that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before 

i 3 



174 NOTES TO BOOK III. 

the Gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be 
blessed. So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful 
Abraham." Gal. iii. 8, 9- Christ said to Thomas, " Because 
thou hast seen me, thou hast believed : blessed are they that have 
not seen, and yet have believed," John, xx. 29 ; that is to say, 
the faithful of the old covenant, who lived before the time of 
the Gospel. S( These all died in faith, not having received the 
promises, but having seen them afar off, were persuaded of them, 
and embraced them," Heb. xi. 13; they stood with regard to 
redemption in the position in which we stand with regard to 
immortality. 

(35.) It was in this sense that Jesus, in the sermon on the 
mount, said, not to a few chosen men, but to the multitude, in 
the midst of which he doubtless already saw his apostles : " Ye 
are the salt of the earth (or of the world, of the human race) ; 
but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted ? 
it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be 
trodden under foot of men." Matt. v. 13. This proverbial image, 
borrowed from the properties of salt as a preservative against 
corruption, was several times employed by Christ, Mark, ix. 49 ; 
Luke, xiv. 34 ; and applied directly to his apostles. Whether, 
in the sermon on the mount, the expression is applied to the 
multitude, is a question which appears to depend on another, 
viz., whether this discourse consists of a number of instructive 
sentences and lessons collected by St. Matthew, or w T hether Christ 
delivered it as it is narrated. But even if we admit, as appears 
most probable when we compare the parallel passages in St. Mark 
and St. Luke, that this discourse was collected and drawn up by 
the sacred historian, would St. Matthew, immediately after the 
seven beatitudes, and after having written : " And seeing the 
multitudes, he went up into a mountain ; and when he was set, 
his disciples came unto him : and he opened his mouth and 
taught them" . . . Matt. v. 1, 2, have inserted a passage ad- 
dressed exclusively to the apostles ? The image which follows, 
the " city set on a hill," Matt. v. 24, gives some reason to con- 
jecture that the whole multitude was before him. (See Book III. 
Chap, xxxvi. note 66.) 

(36.) It is so much in the essence of divine covenants to sti- 
pulate for the future, that Moses said to the Jews, cf Neither 
with you only do 1 make this covenant and this oath," sealed 
with these curses ; iC but with him that standeth here with ns 
this day before the Lord our God, and also with him that is not 
here with us this day," that is, with your descendants. Deut. 
xxix. 15. The same idea is expressed by St. Peter in the most 






NOTES TO BOOK III. 175 

extended sense with regard to the new covenant: " Repent/' 
said he to the Jews, " for the remission of sins, and ye shall re- 
ceive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you 
and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many 
as the Lord our God shall call." Acts, ii. 38, 39- There are 
two important observations to be made on these verses : 1st, 
" the promise" here spoken of has been sometimes understood to 
refer, not to the e< remission of sins," but to the " gift of the 
Holy Ghost;" in the apostle's idea, the one was inseparable from 
the other ; and as pardon, salvation, is the end, and the divine 
graces of the moment the means, it is impossible thus to restrict 
St. Peter's expression. 2dly, the words "all that are afar off " 
have been taken to allude to the Gentiles ; but St. Peter did not 
at that time understand the calling of the Gentiles (see Book IV. 
Chap, xlvii. note ¥J), and the term used in the original signifies 
quite as frequently separation by time as by distance. St. Peter 
then, in this termination of his discourse, promises to the Jews 
that salvation shall belong to their posterity. 

(37.) The righteous of the preparatory covenant were all, each 
according to his degree of enlightenment and faith, Simeon's and 
Joseph's, "waiting for the consolation of Israel" and "the king- 
dom of God," Luke, ii. 25 ; Mark, xv. 43 ; and at the moment 
of the accomplishment of the divine promises, the number of 
" them that looked for redemption in Jerusalem" was great. 

(38.) The Gospel is everywhere given as a testimony ; the 
apostles, the evangelists, are witnesses ; this view is that of Christ 
himself : ..." ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, 
and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts 
of the earth." Acts, i. 8. Again, the apostles said : " Ye killed 
the prince of life, whom God hath raised from the dead ; whereof 
we are witnesses." iii. 16. "Him hath God exalted with his 
right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance 
to Israel, and forgiveness of sins. And we are his witnesses of 
these things." v. 32. " Yea, and we are found false witnesses of 
God ; " says St. Paul, "because we have testified of God, that he 
raised up Christ ; whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead 
rise not." 1 Cor. xv. 15. The apostleship of St. Paul itself is 
established as a testimony of- the truth of the facts of our Saviour's 
mission, although he was not an eye-witness ; " The God of our 
fathers," said Ananias to Paul, " hath chosen thee, that thou 
shouldest know his will, and see that just one. . . . For thou 
shalt be his witness unto all men." Acts, xxii. 14, 15. In the 
calling of this apostle, divine even in form, the terms minister of 

1 4 



176 NOTES TO BOOK III. 

Christ, and witness of his wondrous deeds, are employed as syn- 
onymous, xxvi. 16. St. Peter claims the confidence of the elders 
as being w a witness of the sufferings of Christ." 1 Peter, v. 1. 
St. John begins his first epistle, the prologue to his Gospel, with 
this declaration : " That which was from the beginning (of the 
mission of Christ) which we have heard, which we have seen 
with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have 
handled, of the word of life . . . declare we unto you," 1 John, i. 
1 ; language perfectly in accordance with the words of the 
apostle when narrating his visit to the tomb of the Saviour : 
(i Then went in also that other disciple which came first to the 
sepulchre, and he saw, and believed." John, xx. 8. 

(3.9.) In the bosom of his family, Jesus was treated with the 
tenderness, the earnestness, the familiarity which family ties 
allow. Before the multitude, his relations bestowed on him the 
cares, either affectionate or importunate, which circumstances 
appeared according to their judgment to require. " They (Jesus 
and his disciples) went into a house (at Capernaum) ; . . . And 
the multitude cometh together again, so that they could not so 
much as eat bread. And when his friends heard of it, they went 
out to lay hold on him (to bring him away) : for they said, He 
is beside himself (he will faint)." Mark, iii. 19, 20, 21. (See 
Book III. Chap. xxxi. note 18.) 

(40.) Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it 
that thou being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of 
Samaria?" John, iv. 9- "Pilate answered, am I a Jew? 
(understand, — like thee. ) Thine own nation, and the chief priests, 
have delivered thee unto me. What hast thou done ? " xviii, 35. 

(41.) Now when all the people were baptized "... Luke, iii. 
21, " then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be 
baptized of him. But John forbade him, saying, I have need to 
be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me ? And Jesus answer- 
ing, said unto him, Suffer it to be so now ; for thus it becometh 
us to fulfil all righteousness." Matt. iii. 13 — 15. 

The following is the only plausible explanation of the baptism 
of Jesus. At the period of the Gospel, it was necessary among 
the Jews, both in politics and religion, to join one of the sects, 
one of the schools of the time ; to stand isolated, to preserve a 
kind of neutrality, and to avoid taking a part and professing an 
opinion, was impossihle. >Vhen a whole nation, at any period 
of its political and religious life, rallies round the several standards 
of the moment, it becomes indispensable for every individual to 
choose one to which he may attach himself. Such was the situation 
of the Jewish nation at this period, anil Jesus, had he held com- 






NOTES TO BOOK 111. 177 

pletely aloof, especially at the commencement of his ministry, 
would have created fresh difficulties for himself. The school of 
John the Baptist did not confine itself to keeping alive and dif- 
fusing the immediate expectation of the Messiah; it instituted a 
reform of manners, and was a first step of departure from the 
formalism of the mosaic worship, and of approach to the spiri- 
tualism of the new religion which was about to be proclaimed, 
Jesus, in receiving the baptism of John, attached himself to the 
most moral, the most pious school of his time, and publicly took 
his p ] ace and station in the religious movement of the period. 
All was unmingled advantage in this act, at once so prudent and 
so candid ; it had no inconvenient effect on Christ's after mission; 
according as this mission was developed, the character of the 
disciple disappeared in that of the Messiah ; and the school of 
John the Baptist, being only constituted in order to await the 
fulfilment of God's promises, was gradually abolished by their 
accomplishment. 

(42.) .... c c God sent forth his Son .... made under (sub- 
ject to) the law (the Mosaic faith)." Gal iv. 4. Jesus celebrated 
the solemn feasts of the Levitical religion, and went regularly to 
Jerusalem for this purpose, and particularly for the feast of the 
passover. John, ii. 13; v. 1 ; vi. 4; xiii. 1. His assiduity 
in this respect was of public notoriety : the Jews ei spake among 
themselves. . . . What think ye, that he will not come to the 
feast ? " xi. 56 ; and the value which he attached to the religious 
ceremonies of his nation is breathed forth in the touching words 
addressed to his apostles at the last repast of which he partook 
with them : " and when the hour was come, he sat down, and the 
twelve apostles with him. And he said unto them, With desire 
I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer." 
Luke, xxii. 14, 15. 

(43.) " Now, in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius 
Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being 
tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and 
of the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias the tetrarch of Abilene, 
Annas and Caiaphas being the high priests. . . ." Luke, iiL 1, 2. 

(44). " And a stranger will they (the sheep of the good shep- 
herd) not follow, but will See from him : for they know not the 
voice of strangers." John, x. 5. 

(45.) Christ said ; " Salvation is of the Jews," John, iv. 22 ; 
that is, the work of salvation has been accomplished in the midst 
of the Jewish nation. Salvation was the substance, the ground- 
work; that it was of the Jews, was only the form (see Book IV. 
Chap. li. and notes) ; and in every page of the Gospel we see in the 

i 5 



178 NOTES TO BOOK III. 

facts,, in the least important as well as in the most essential, proofs 
that the form, the accomplishment, the circumstances of salvation, 
were the produce of the time, the place, the people in the midst 
of which Christ appeared. " So there was a division among the 
people because of him. . . . Have any of the rulers, or of the Phari- 
sees, believed on him ? " John, vii. 43 — 48. c< Then gathered 
the chief priests and the Pharisees a council, and said, What do 
we ? for this man doeth many miracles. If we let him thus alone, 
all men will believe on him ; and the Romans shall come and 
take away both our place and nation, And one of them, named 
Caiaphas, being the high priest that same year, said unto them, 
ye know nothing at all, nor consider that it is expedient for us, 
that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation 
perish not . . . Then, from that day forth, they took counsel 
together for to put him to death." xi. 47 — 53 . . . " The hidden 
wisdom (the intention of God in sending the Saviour into the 
world) . . , which none of the princes of this world knew : for 
had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of 
Glory." 1 Cor. ii. 7, 8. " For they that dwelt at Jerusalem, and 
their rulers, because they know him not, nor yet the voices of the 
prophets which are read every Sabbath day, they have fulfilled 
them in condemning him. And though they found no cause of 
death in him, yet desired they Pilate that he should be slain." 

Acts, xiii. 27, 28 " But he (Pilate) delivered Jesus to 

their will." Luke, xxiii. 25. And nevertheless up to the last 
moment, God " was able to save him from death." Heb. v. 7- 
This last passage deserves great attention ; it forms part of the 
commentary contained in the Epistle to the Hebrews on the 
prayer of Jesus during the night of his agony, and hence it follows: 
that if the death of the Saviour w r as what is called in theological 
language an irrevocable decree, a fact of absolute necessity, this 
principal prayer of Christ has no sense, for he asks what he 
knows he cannot obtain. So true is this, that some commen- 
tators have endeavoured, in order to support their preconceived 
opinions, to alter the text, and understand the passage in the sense 
that Christ prays, not that he may be saved from death, but that 
his agitation may be calmed; and that this prayer is granted in 
the certainty of his resurrection ! To discover how erroneous 
these forced interpretations are, it is only necessary to read the 
prayer of Jesus, and the reflections on it in the Epistle to the 
Hebrews. (See Book II. Chap. xxv. note 42.) 

(46'.) "It is the spirit (the true and spiritual sense) that 
quickeneth ; the flesh (the form, the images, the words,) profitelh 
nothing : the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and 
they are life." John, vi. 63. 






NOTES TO BOOK III. 179 

(47.) " And I, brethren/' wrote St. Paul to the Corinthians, 
" could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, 
even as unto babes in Christ." 1 Cor. iii. 1. (See, on the meaning 
of these epithets, Book VI. Chap. lxv. note 28.) And the He- 
brews are censured for having " need that one teach them again 
which be the first principles of the oracles of God ;" and for having 
" become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat." 
Heb. v. 12. 

(48.) " And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these 
sayings (the sermon on the mount), the people were astonished 
at his doctrine : for he taught them as one having authority, and 
not as the scribes." Matt. vii. 28, 2J). 

(49.) And all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious 
words which proceeded out of his mouth." Luke, iv. 22. The 
expression, et gracious words," employed in this passage, signifies 
discourse remarkable for its attractive sweetness, and which won 
all hearts. " Then came the officers to the chief priests and 
Pharisees ; and they said unto them, Why have ye not brought 
him ? The officers answered, Never man spake like this man. 
Then answered them the Pharisees, Are ye also deceived ?" John, 
vii. 45 — 47. 

(50.) God, according to Daniel, " changeth the times and the 
seasons ; " that is, rules the great changes in the destiny of the 
world, Dan. ii. 21 ; and the expressive and lofty terms used by 
the sacred writers to designate the time of the redemption, 
clearly announce a definite and profound intention in the choice 
of the epoch of our Saviour's advent ; c( ... the time of thy 
visitation," Luke, xix. 44 ; " the fulness (the accomplishment) 
of the time" (or times), Gal. iv. 4 ; Eph. i. 10 ; " the last days," 
" these last times,'' " the last time," 2 Tim, iii. 1 ; 1 Peter, i. 20 ; 
1 John, ii. 18 ; ie the time of reformation." Heb. ix. 10. These 
views are fully confirmed by the study of the following texts : 
" I must work," said Jesus, " the works of him that sent me 
while it is day : the night cometh, when no man can work," 
John, ix. 4 : " in due time Christ died," Rom. v. 6 j " behold, 
now is the accepted time ; behold, now is the day of salvation," 
which was formerly predicted, 2 Cor. vi. 2 : " In hope of 
eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the 
world began ; but hath in due times manifested his word," Titus, 
i. 2, 3 ; and who can doubt that Christ first fulfilled in his own 
mission the duty which he imposes on his apostles in theirs, to 
imitate the Ci faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made 
ruler over his household, to give them meat (spiritual sustenance) 
in due season." Matt. xxiv. 45 ; Luke, xii. 42. An important 

1 6 



ISO NOTES TO BOOK III. 

consequence resulting from what precedes is, that there is but one 
time for redemption : Ci And he said unto the disciples, The days 
will come when ye shall desire to see one of the days of the Son 
of Man, and ye shall not see it." Luke, xvii. 22. " Yet a little 
while is the light with you." John, xii. 35. It is extremely 
remarkable that, before Daniel, who was the first to predict the 
epoch of the Gospel, and who prophetically calculated the weeks 
of years which were to pass away before its arrival, Dan. ix. 25, 
etc. ; Matt. xxiv. 15 ; Mark. xiii. 14; there is not the slightest 
anticipation of the number of centuries still destined to the expecta- 
tion of the Messiah to be found in the Holy Scriptures, however 
great the efforts of the prophets to discern the times and con- 
junctures of the redemption, " Searching what, or what manner 
of time, the spirit of Christ which was in them did signify." 
1 Peter, i. 11. 

(51.) An expression pf Jesus in his prophecy concerning the 
overthrow of the Jews, and of the afflictions, of the disasters which 
were to accompany it, sufficiently shows with what compassionate 
care Providence in some sort measured the duration of this time 
of trial, and contracted the period of those terrible events which 
were linked with the events of redemption itself : " And ex- 
cept those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be 
saved : but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened." 
Matt. xxiv. 22 ; Mark, xiii. 20. 

(52.) All these positions are perfectly in accordance with the 
divine intention of redemption, as exhibited by the following 
texts in the particular point of view alluded to. " For God sent 
not his son into the world to condemn the world, but that the 
world through him might be saved." John, iii. 17- "Who 
(Jesus Christ) gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver 
us from this present evil world (from the corruption of this age) 
according to the will of God and our father," Gal. i. 4 ; and his 
forerunner, John the Baptist, spoke of him as " the Lamb of 
God, which taketh away the sin of the world." John, i. 29. 

(53.) It is in this spirit that the Gospel judges antiquity: 
" Who (God) in times past suffered all nations to walk in their 
own ways." Acts, xiv. 16. God willed that men in those times 
" should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him . . . 
And the times of this ignorance God winked at ; but now com- 
mandeth all men everywhere to repent." xvii. 27 — 30. " For 
as many as have sinned without law (revealed law) shall also 
perish without law" (without being judged by the law). Rom. 
ii. 12. These ages of ignorance are called days of the "forbear- 
ance of God." Rom. iii. 25. " For God hath concluded them 



NOTES TO BOOK III. 181 

all in unbelief (had left them all as captive under disobedience) 
that he might have mercy upon all/' xi. 32 ; and St. Paul himself 
condescends to palliate in some degree the errors of idolatry, by 
attributing them to the strength of the religious sense or tendency : 
(i Ye men of Athens/' said he, " I perceive that in all things ye 
are too superstitious." Acts, xvii. 22. The same apostle con- 
siders the condition of men before the Gospel dispensation as a 
state at once of sin and of misfortune : " The children of dis- 
obedience : among whom also we all had our conversation in 
times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the 
flesh and of the mind ; and were by nature the children of wrath, 
even as others . . . Wherefore remember, that ye being in time 
past Gentiles ... at that time ye were without Christ, being 
aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the 
covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the 
world." Eph. ii. 2, 3. 11, 12. 

(54.) The Gospel, in accordance with the whole of profane 
history, everywhere alleges the gradual increase of iniquity, the 
empire of sin, and the departure from, and oblivion of God : 
" The world cannot hate you ; but me it hateth, because I testify 
of it that the works thereof are evil." John, vii.7. The terrible pic- 
ture of pagan manners with which the epistle to the Romans opens, 
sufficiently testifies the universal and long-increasing corruption. 
Two traits in this picture require especial notice : " receiving in 
themselves that recompense of their error which was meet ;" the 
connection of ideas shows that the punishment of these redoubled 
iniquities was inflicted by the very excess of that idolatry which 
had opened the way to them. Again, Paul depicts the corruption 
of the time as being calmly resolved on and pursued : " Who, 
knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such 
things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have 
pleasure in them that do them." i. 32. This punishment, a 
striking example of evil engendering evil, is explained in that 
" as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God 
gave them over to a reprobate mind." i. 28. The Gentiles 
" having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the 
life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the 
blindness (hardness) of their hearts," Eph. iv. 18 ; " . . . . 
you that were sometime alienated, and enemies in your mind by 
wicked works," Col. i. 21 ; so that "the whole world" lay " in 
wickedness." 1 John, v. 19. 

The idea of the progressive invasion of evil before the Gospel 
is especially developed by St. Paul in the difficult and profound 
discussion into which he enters in order to show, that the first 



182 NOTES TO BOOK III. 

covenant, the mosaic economy, established as a barrier against 
iniquity and error, far from attaining its end, so greatly had it 
been violated and disfigured, had only served to render man more 
inexcusable, more wicked and criminal. Bringing himself on 
the scene of argument, as a descendant of Abraham and disciple 
of Moses, he says: "And the commandment, which was ordained 
to life (to make me live a holy and happy life), I found to be 
unto death. For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, 
deceived me the more criminally, and it slew me . . . sin, that 
it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good ; 
that sin by the commandment, (which should have made me better,) 
might become exceeding sinful." Rom. vii. 10, 11. 13. 

The old covenant had preceded the new in depicting these 
perversions of the moral sense, and the triumphant security of 
the wicked : " And it come to pass, when he heareth the words 
of this curse, that he bless himself in his heart, saying, I shall 
have peace, though I walk in the imagination of mine heart, to 
add drunkenness to thirst," (sin to sin.) Deut. xxix. 19 ; here 
we see iniquity trusting beforehand in its triumph, " Woe unto 
them that call evil good, and good evil ; that put darkness for 
light, and light for darkness ; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet 
for bitter ! " Isaiah, v. 20 ; and here the perversion of the moral 
sense. Man, in this case, retains only what St. Paul calls a seared 
conscience, 1 Tim. iv. 2, and one consequently insensible. 

(55.) All this is expressed in the simple phrase of Jesus: "I 
have overcome the world." John, xvi. 33. He had already said 
" Now shall the prince of this world be cast out," xii. 31 ; the 
prince of this world, the demon, a well-known image which in 
the Jews' ideas represented all iniquity, impiety, and error. At 
the commencement of his ministry, he revealed its holy purpose 
to Nathaniel in this promise : " Verily, verily, I say unto you, 
Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascend- 
ing and descending upon the Son of Man," i. 51 ; an image 
borrowed from the recollections of the old covenant, and announc- 
ing a re-opening of free and constant communication between our 
world and heaven, between mankind and God. The progress of 
the children of God after the Gospel dispensation, is clearly ex- 
pressed in this declaration; "Wisdom is justified of her chil- 
dren." Matt. xi. 19 ; Luke, vii. 35. . . . " This is the victory 
that overcometh the world, even our faith (that is, the Christian 
religion), 1 John, v. 4; and of the Gentiles it is said, that God 
had "purified their hearts by faith." Acts, xv. Q. Truly, to so 
great a change we may with justice apply the sublime words of 
the prophet : " The people that walked in darkness have seen a 



NOTES TO BOOK III. 183 

great light ; they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, 
upon them hath the light shined." Isaiah, ix. 2. " Ye are all 
the children of light, and the children of the day." 1 Thes. v. 5. 
"The night is far spent, the day is at hand." Rom. xiii. 12. 

{56.) Even in the most corrupt ages, God, who " knoweth 
them that are his," 2Tim.ii. 19, was able to say to his prophets : 
" Yet I have left me seven thousand (a considerable number) in 
Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every 
mouth which hath not kissed him." 1 Kings, xix. 18. And on 
the other hand, even at the periods when truth, holiness, and 
charity exercise the greatest sway, the kingdom of heaven is like 
scattered seeds, some fruitful, some barren," Matt. xiii. 3 ; like 
the field where the " enemy came and sowed tares among the 
wheat j " xiii. 25 ; "like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, 
and gathered of every kind." xiii. 47. 

(570 Sometimes the virtues, the progress of believers, are 
not even comprehended by irreligious and depraved minds : 
" Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon 
us, that we should be called the sons of God ! therefore the world 
knoweth us not, because it knew him not." 1 John,iii. 1. "But 
if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are 
found sinners, is, therefore, Christ the minister of sin ? God 
forbid." Gal. ii. 17- 

(58.) The disposition to praise the past is one against which 
the true Christian and the true philosopher cannot be too much 
on their guard. It has showed itself in all times, even at the 
most brilliant epochs ; " Say not thou, what is the cause that the 
former days were better than these ? for thou dost not inquire 
wisely concerning this." Eccl. vii. 10. 

(59.) Called in the Gospel " devout men," or men " fearing 
God." Acts, x. 2 — 7» "And some of them believed, and con- 
sorted with Paul and Silas ; and of the devout Greeks a great 
multitude." . . . xvii. 4. These chosen spirits were among the 
Gentiles, what the disciples of John the Baptist were among the 
Jews ; they prepared " the way of the Lord/' and made " his 
paths straight." Matt. iii. 3. 

(60.) " The day is thine, the night also is thine : thou hast 
prepared the light (the moon) and the sun. Thou hast set all 
the borders of the earth : thou hast made summer and winter." 
Ps. lxxiv. 16 — 17. 

(6l.) . . . "The Lord did there confound the language of 
all the earth : and from thence did the Lord scatter them abroad 
upon the face of all the earth." Gen. xi. 9. This passage merely 
signifies that, notwithstanding the efforts which men made by 



184 ttOTES TO BOOK III. 

constructing a city, a capital, and a sort of tower cr lighthouse to 
serve as a kind of rallying point in the midst of the immense 
plains of Asia, the differences of language brought on a necessary 
dispersion, the commencement of which is fixed in the biblical ge- 
nealogies at a very indefinite period : " And the name of the one 
was Peleg; for in his days was the earth divided" (Peleg signifies 
division). Gen.x. 25; 1 Chron. i. 19. . . . "The Most High 
divided to the nations their inheritance" (to each its portion of the 
world). . . . Deut. xxxii. 8. "And hath made of one blood 
aU nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and 
hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of 
their habitation." Acts, xvii. 26. 

(62.) "Therefore shall a man leave his farher and his mother, 
and shall cleave unto his wife." Gen. ii. 24< ; Matt. xix. 5 ; 
Mark, x. 7 ', Eph. v. 31. Here we have, in the simple words of 
Scripture, the origin of society, which has been sought elsewhere, 
by taking effects for causes, such as the differences of language, 
property, commerce, industry, mutual defence^ the necessity of 
public order, and of government. 

(63.) . . . "But for Adam there was not found an help meet 
for him." Gen. ii. 20. " And the Lord God said, It is not good 
that the man should be alone; I will make an help meet for him," 
ii. 18 ; "and the man recognised his companion and said : This is 
now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh." ii. 23. " For the 
self-same day entered Noah, and Shem, and Ham, and Japheth, 
the sons of Noah, and Noah's wife, and the three wives of his 
sons with them, into the ark." vii. 13. "Have ye not read, that 
he which made them at the beginning, made them male and 
female ? " (made but one man and one woman). . . . . " Where- 
fore they are no more twain, but one flesh," Matt. xix. 4 — 6; 
Mark, x. 6. . . . " He that loveth his wife loveth himself." 
Eph. v. 28. 

(64.) The first known instance of polygamy is that of Lamech, 
a descendant of Cain. Gen. iv. 23. The same whom the in- 
vention of the art of forging iron put in possession of arms more 
dangerous than those of his contemporaries, and whose manners 
appear to have been ferocious. It is difficult not to believe that 
polygamy arose from the abuse of superior strength with regard 
to the " weaker vessel." 1 Peter, iii. 7- National calamities and 
servitude, and the disasters of war, may also have contributed to 
favour it. " Thy men (O Sion) shall fall by the sword, and thy 
mighty in the war. And in that day seven (several) women (in 
order to avoid the oriental opprobrium of celibacy) shall take 
hold of one man, saying, we will eat our own bread, and wear 



NOTES TO BOOK III. 185 

our own apparel (without availing ourselves of the rights given 
us by the law), Ex. xxi. 10. ; only let us he called by thy name, 
to take away our reproach." Isaiah, iii. 25 ; iv. 1. 65. It is 
against women degraded and corrupted by polygamy, and by the 
life of the harem, that Ecclesiastes utters this severe judgment : 
" Behold, this have I found, counting one by one, to find out the 
account ; which yet my soul seeketh, but I find not : one man 
(one good man) among a thousand have I found, but a woman 
among all those have I not found." Ecc. vii. 27, 28. While in 
the bosom of a legitimate family, the influence of the Christian 
woman, in her freedom and purity, may be so great, in St. 
Peter's opinion, that he addresses this exhortation to women : — 
" Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands ; 
that if any obey not the word (who are pagans), they also may 
without the word (without the exhortations and urgency of 
domestic proselytism) be won by the conversation of the wives ; 
while they behold your chaste conversation, coupled with fear." 
1 Peter, iii. 1. 

(66.) This distinction between nations, some being models of 
good and evil imitated by others, is so consonant to the de- 
signs of Providence, that it constituted one of the privileges and 
duties of Israel. '•' And ail the people of the earth shall see that 
thou art called by the name of the Lord ; and they shall be 
afraid of thee. .... And the Lord shall make thee the head, 
and not the tail. ..." Peut. xxviii. 10 — 13. The same idea 
is expressed in the sermon on the mount, with admirable clear- 
ness and force : " Ye are the light of the world. A city that is 
set on a hill cannot be hid." Matt. v. 14. ... "ye shine," said 
St. Paul to his favourite church of the Philippians, " as lights in 
the world/' (See Book III. Chap, xxxri. note 35.) 

The captivity of Babylon may be explained, independently of 
the justice of this signal chastisement for the various idolatries 
and iniquities of Israel, by the same historical principle : " they 
that escape of you shall remember me among the nations whither 
they shall be carried captives. ..." Ezek. vi. 9- " But I will 
leave a few men of them from the sword, from the famine, and 
from the pestilence ; that they may declare all their abominations 
among the heathen, whither they come ; and they (these nations) 
shall know that I am the Lord." xii. 16. (See Book III. 
Chap. xi. note 79.) 

(67.) That it was the intention of Providence that the Jewish 
nation, becoming the first Christian nation, should take its rank 
as a model of the new religion, is demonstrated in all its great 
features by the whole of particularism, and in detail by the 



186 NOTES TO BOOK III. 

wisdom with which Christ, in maintaining his assertion, that he 
was " not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel," 
Mat. xv. 24 ; and in taking precautions that the first propagation 
of Christianity should not, so to speak, go beyond the limits of 
Judea ; ec Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any 
city of the Samaritans enter ye not," x. 5, said he to his apostles. 
He gave it however to be understood that he had " other sheep (the 
Gentiles) which are not of this fold" (of Israel), John, x. 16 : and 
shewed by a few rare examples that redemption and its advan- 
tages could go beyond the circle of Abraham's posterity. The 
Samaritan woman and the inhabitants of Sychar, John, iv. 4 ; 
the centurion of Capernaum, doubtless a proselyte, whom Christ 
admired, and of whom he declared that he had " not found so 
great faith, no, not in Israel," Matt. viii. 10; Luke, vii. Q; 
the Canaanitish woman, evidently neither a Jew by birth, nor a 
proselyte, whose daughter he healed, Matt. xv. 26 ; Mark, vii. 
27 J and the Samaritan leper whom he cured, and whose grati- 
tude he praised," Luke, xvii. 15; these were the only examples 
which announced afar off the calling of the Gentiles. It was 
not till the close of his mission, that Jesus more positively an- 
nounced its universalism (see Book VI. Chap, lxiii., note 23), 
and then its position in Israel was taken. 

(68.) This single consideration accounts for the ministry of 
St. Paul, " a preacher, and an apostle, and a teacher of the Gen- 
tiles," 2 Tim. i. 11 ; as St. Peter was to the Jews, Gal. ii. 8; 
St. Paul, to whom the Divine voice said — iC I will send thee far 
hence unto the Gentiles; " Acts, xxii. 21 ; whose journeys and 
labours were always directed towards the West ;...*' from about 
Jerusalem, and round about unto Illyricum, I have fully preached 
the Gospel of Christ." Rom. xv. 19. And who even proposed 
to himself to carry it into Spain, xv. 24. 

(69.) " The light of the body is the eye ; if, therefore, thine 
eye be single, thy whole body shall be- full of light ; but if thine 
eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If, there- 
fore, the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that dark- 
ness ! " Matt. vi. 22, 23. " Take heed, therefore, that the 
light that is in thee be not darkness." Luke, xi. 35. 

Much research has been exhibited with regard to the meaning 
of the expression, " the light of the body is the eye : " in order to 
understand its meaning, we need only take in its simplicity 
the image of which Jesus makes use ; the eye guides the body, 
directs its movements and its progress : and it is evident, from 
the very fact that Jesus employs so general an expression, that 
he implies by this emblem not any particular restricted principle, 






NOTES TO BOOK III. 187 

but that principle, whatever it may be, whether of moral, intel- 
lectual, or religious life, which each individual adopts for his own 
guidance. Although the context in the two Evangelists is differ- 
ent, the sense is the same ; according to St. Matthew, Jesus had 
just been censuring animosity, hypocrisy, and worldliness ; ac- 
cording to St. Luke, he had been condemning that wholly out- 
ward faith which exacted miracles, and impressing upon his 
disciples the duty of diffusing the truth, instead of putting it " in 
a secret place," keeping it to themselves. Both trains of ideas 
led equally naturally to the important lesson : the principle, 
whatever it may be, that guides our life, turns the scale ; if this 
principle is good, true, and holy, our whole career is sanctified 
by it ; if it is bad, our pretended light being but darkness, all is 
darkness. 

(70.) " If a man say I love God, and hateth his brother, he 
is a liar ; for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, 
how can he love God, whom he hath not seen ? " 1 John, iv. 20. 
iC He that saith I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, 
is a liar, and the truth is not in him." ii. 4. It is by the action 
of the tendencies upon one another that the truth, which seems 
only to be addressed to the mind, sanctifies the heart. John, 
xv ii. 17. 

(71«) cc They that make them (idols) are like unto them ; so 
is every one that trusteth in them," Ps. cxv. 8 ; cxxxv. 18. 

(72.) " Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and wor- 
shipped and served the creature more than (rather than) the 
Creator ..." Rom. i. 25. ..." Make us gods," said the He- 
brews to Aaron, "which shall go before us." Ex. xxxii. 1. 

(73.) Moses foresaw the excesses and dangers of polygamy, 
when he forbade the usual indulgences of Asiatic seraglios to the 
future kings of Israel : " Neither shall he (the king) multiply 
wives to himself, that his heart turn not away to idols." Deut. 
xvii. 17- And the famous example of Solomon but too well 
proved the wisdom of these provisions. 1 Kings, xi. 1. 

This power of idolatry is so indisputable, that various idola- 
tries of antiquity, adopted and imitated by the Jews, sanctioned 
prostitution ; and under the kings the Jews carried their obli- 
vion of the laws of Moses even to this point," Lev. xix. 29 ; 
xxxi. 9 ; Deut. xxiii. ] 8 ; and their imitation of the worship of 
false gods. 1 Kings, xiv. 24; xv. 12. 

The Scripture abounds in passages of extreme energy, in which 
the absurdity and immorality of idolatry are denounced, and the 
perversion of the intellectual and moral senses declared to be its 
inevitable consequence. We may consider all these passages as 



188 NOTES TO BOOK III. 

summed up by St. Paul, who, in describing the state of manners 
and minds at the time of the Gospel, first represents men 
having become " vain in their imaginations, and their foolish 
heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they 
became fools," Rom. i. 21, 22; then, as having "changed the 
glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like to cor- 
ruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping 
things," i. 23 ; and finally describes, as the result of these errors, 
the frightful vices everywhere practised. 

(74-.) " Have a nation changed their gods, which are yet no 
gods ? But my people have changed their glory (God) for that 
which doth not profit" (for idols). Jer. ii. 11. 

(75.) Thus the Athenians, in their "city wholly given to 
idolatry," were " in all things too superstitious," and had dedi- 
cated an altar "to the unknown god." Acts, xvii. 16. 22, 23. 
A very singular, but still more certain fact, is that they had 
either consecrated several altars of this kind, or had, through a 
feeling of superstitious fear, preserved very ancient altars, without 
any inscription. The profane authors speak of altars to the un- 
known gods, but do not speak of an altar consecrated to an un- 
known god, or to the unknown god. It has been justly remarked 
that no deduction against the Apostle's assertion can be drawn 
from their silence, as, especially in the areopagus, he would not 
have ventured to speak inaccurately of these Athenian devotions. 

(76.) " Thus saith the Lord of Hosts ... I have made the 
earth . . . and have given it unto whom it seemed meet unto me." 
Jer. xxvii. 5. fi When the Most High divided to the nations 
their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set 
the bounds of the people according to the number of the children 
of Israel : for the Lord's portion is his people ; Jacob is the lot 
of his inheritance," (is as his family). Deut. xxxii. 8, 9. The 
Land of Promise was considered as the dwelling-place of the 
Lord : " Thou shalt bring them (thy people) in, and plant them 
in the mountain cf thine inheritance, in the place, O Lord ! 
which thou hast made thee to dwell in ; in the sanctuary, O 
Lord ! which thy hands have established." Ex. xv. 17. 

The conquest of Joshua, which served to accomplish the 
designs of Providence, was, in addition, a just punishment of the 
(\eep corruption of the Syrian nations. " Speak not thou in 
thine heart, after that the Lord thy God hath cast them out from 
before thee, saying, For my righteousness the Lord hath brought 
me in to possess this land ; but for the wickedness of these 
nations the Lord doth drive them out from before thee." Deut. 
ix. 4. 



NOTES TO BOOK III. 189 

(77.) The polygamy of the Jews, moderated by the laws of 
Moses, was a sort of medium between the monogamy of the 
West, and the polygamy of the East. It prevailed from the 
age of Abraham to that of David and Solomon, then gradually 
fell into disuse, and entirely disappeared some time after the 
reigns of these princes. In the writings and institutions of their 
legislator, there is a manifest intention to discredit and restrain 
customs which he could not abolish ; he speaks of the divine 
institution of lawful marriage, and of the first known example of 
polygamy, (see the texts of Chap, xxxvi. note 64) ; he seizes 
every opportunity of exposing the inconveniences of the latter, 
Gen. xvi. 30 ; he forbids the luxury of harems to kings, Deut. 
xvii. 17 ; he rendered seraglios impossible, by interdicting eu- 
nucbs, xxiii. 1 ; he imposes on the conjugal relation, rules and 
precautions to which polygamy would find it very difficult to 
accommodate itself, and he fixes in a rigorous and precise manner 
the rights of wives. All these laws were intended to produce, 
and did in time produce, the abolition of this abuse ; and it is 
worthy of remark that polygamy had entirely disappeared before 
the period at which the Jews, by the captivity of Babylon, began 
daily to lose their character of a stationary .people, and to assume 
that of an active one, necessary at a later period to the diffusion 
of the Gospel. 

(78.) The stationary situation of the Jew r s, so long maintained, 
was the consequence, not only of polygamy, but also of their 
religious, and, consequently, political, isolation in the midst of 
nations. ..." I the Lord am holy, and have severed you from 
other people, that ye should be mine." Lev. xx. 26. " For 
thou didst separate them from among all the people of the earth, 
to be thine inheritance." 1 Kings, viii. 53. 

We must, however, be careful not to exaggerate this isolation ; 
the prohibition of communication was absolute with regard to 
the Canaanites, properly so called, among whom the Philistines 
were included ; also with regard to the Amalekites or Canaanites 
of Arabia Petrea, and to Moab, Hammon, Midian, and the 
Amorites, to the east of Jordan. The example of idolatry was 
too contagious to authorise the least intimacy of relation between 
these nations and Israel. With the other nations, a state of 
peace and of exchange of treaties was not forbidden by the law : 
David and Solomon maintained peaceful and honourable relations 
with the kings of Egypt, of Tyre, of Hamath, and with the 
queen of Sheba. At a later period, the prophets Isaiah, Hosea, 
and Jeremiah, only condemn alliances of the Jews with foreign 
nations, on the ground of their being contrary to the true interests 



190 NOTES TO BOOK III, 

of the nation and to the views of Providence ; and the grandson 
of an Egyptian was allowed to be admitted into the congregation 
of the Lord, the Jewish nation. Deut. xxiii. 8. The duties of 
kindness and justice towards strangers were prescribed in the 
most positive terms : " But the stranger that dwelleth with you 
shall be unto you as one born among you, and thou shalt love him 
as thyself." Lev. xix. 34; Ex. xxii. 21, xxiii. 9; Deut. xxiv. 
17; xxvii. 19. And Israel could the less abuse its divine 
privilege, as it knew from its own law that " God regardeth not 
persons . . . and loveth the stranger." x. 17, 18. 

The second cause of the stationary character of the Jewish 
nation, maintained especially up to the period of the captivity, 
was the absence of foreign commerce. Moses confined himself 
to enjoining good faith and honesty in exchanges, and to con- 
demning false measures, Lev. xix. 35, 36 ; Deut. xv. ; and 
nothing in his law resembles a commercial code. The efforts of 
Solomon and Jehoshaphat to create a transit and maritime com- 
merce by Egypt, the Mediterranean, and the Red Sea, had no 
permanent consequences. It was not until near the time of the 
captivity of Babylon that Jerusalem, to which Joppa served as a 
port, began to excite the jealousy of the Tyrians. iC She is 
broken," said they, " that was the gates of the people." Ezek. 
xxvi. 2. 

(79-) There are innumerable texts in the sacred writings of 
both covenants, which express the idea of the mission or privi- 
lege of the Jews, and of their title of people of God ; this 
mission may be summed up in four distinct but closely united 
points : the knowledge of the true God ; the promise of the 
Saviour ; the drawing up and preservation of the old covenant ; 
and, lastly, the accomplishment of the redemption in the very 
bosom of their nation. 

Abraham was called, Gen. xii. 1 ; ff by faith Abraham, when 
he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive 
for an inheritance, obeyed ; and he went out, not knowing 
whither he went." Heb. xi. 8. On all the great occasions of 
his life it was said to him, "in thee shall all families of the earth 
be blessed." Gen. xii. 3; xviii. 18; xxii. 18; xxvi. 4. " And 
he (Abraham) believed in the Lord ; and he counted it to him for 
righteousness ;" that is, Abraham with confidence accepted his 
great destiny, and raised himself to his holy task, xv. 6 ; thus 
he became iC the father of all them that believe," Rom. iv. 11 ; 
that is the first head of particularism, the first special guardian of 
religious truth. " For 1 know him (said the Lord) that he will 
command his children and his household after him, and they 



NOTES TO BOOK III. 191 

shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment j that 
the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken 
of him." Gen. xviii. 19. " Now, therefore/' it is said to the 
contemporaries of Moses, "if ye will obey my voice, indeed, 
and keep my covenant, then shall ye be a peculiar treasure unto 
me above all people." Ex. xix. 5 . . . Ci That thou mayest be an 
holy people unto the Lord thy God, as he hath spoken." Deut. 
xxvi. 19. " For the Lord will not forsake his people for his 
great name's sake : because it hath pleased the Lord to make you 
his people." 1 Sam. xii. 22. " He hath not dealt so with any 
nation : and as for his judgments, they have not known them." 
Ps. cxlvii. 

(80.) " Remember these (things), O Jacob and Israel ; for 
thou art my servant : I have formed thee." Isaiah, xliv. 21. 
" For (while) all people will walk, every one in the name of his 
God, and we will walk in the name of the Lord our God for ever and 
ever." Micah, iv. 5. " Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, in those 
days it shall come to pass, that ten men (an indefinite number) 
shall take hold, out of all languages of the nations, even shall 
take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go 
with you ; for we have heard (learned) that God is with you." 
Zach. viii. 23. 

e( Unto you first," said St. Peter to the Jews, " God, having 
raised up his Son Jesus, sent him." Acts, iii. 26. . . . ' ' Who are 
Israelites ; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory 
(Ex. xl. 34, 35 ; 1 Sam. iv. 22 ; 2 Chron. vii. 1, 2.) ; and the 
covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and 
the promises ; whose are the fathers, and of whom, as concerning 
the flesh, Christ came." . . . Rom. ix. 4, 5. Ci Now I say, 
that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth 
of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers." xv. 8. 

This divine commission, given to Israel, constituted particu- 
larism, and made the Jewish religion a national religion. 

Yet Providence prepared afar off' the return to universalism ; 
not only at the moment of the captivity, and by the dispersion of 
the Jews over Asia at a period when Greece and Italy were still 
comparatively barbarous ; but we may see the light of universalism 
faintly dawning in some degree, even in the age when Solomon 
erected the temple of a unique and local wwship j in the prayer 
of dedication, this prince says : " Moreover, concerning a stranger 
that is not of thy people Israel, but cometh out of a far country 
for thy name's sake ; . . . when he shall come and pray toward 
(in) this house : Hear thou in heaven thy dwelling-place, and 
do according to all that the stranger calleth to thee for ; that all 



192 NOTES TO BOOK III. 

the people of the earth may know thy name, to fear thee." 1 
Kings, viii. 41 — 43 ; 2 Chron. vi. 32. Isaiah proclaims the 
rights of, and re-assures the proselytes and even eunuchs (who in 
whatever manner they had become so were not considered as 
Jewish citizens). Deut. xxiii. I.; "Neither let the son of the 
stranger, that hath joined himself to the Lord, speak, saying, The 
Lord hath utterly separated me from his people : neither let the 
eunuch say, behold, I am a dry tree ( I shall be cut off as a barren 
tree). For thus saith the Lord . . . those that choose the things 
that please me, and take hold of my covenant ; even unto them 
will I give, in mine house, and within my walls a place," . . . 
Isaiah, lvi. 3, 4, 5. Ezekiel when he promises to the Jews a new 
division of the Holy Land, meaning by this image to give them 
assurance of a restoration after the captivity, does not forget the 
strangers or proselytes who were soon to be more numerous than 
ever. " And it shall come to pass, that ye shall divide it (the 
country) by lot for an inheritance unto you, and to the strangers 
that sojourn among you, which shall beget children among you; and 
they shall be unto you as born in the country among the children 
of Israel ; they shall have inheritance with you among the tribes 
of Israel. And it shall come to pass, that in what tribe the 
stranger sojourneth, there shall ye give him his inheritance, saith 
the Lord God." Ezek. xlvii. 22, 23. 

A curious passage in Isaiah, the complete explanation of which 
would require a separate dissertation, opened to the Mosaic system 
a vast perspective of extension. " In that day," says the phro- 
phet, et shall five cities (five, several, the definite for the indefinite 
number) in the land of Egypt speak the language of Canaan (a 
figurative expression — the language of the worship of the true God) 
and swear to (by) the Lord of Hosts . . . And the Lord shall be 
known to Egypt ... In that day shall there be a highway out of 
Egypt to Assyria (that is, there shall be frequent and intimate 
communication) ; . . . and the Egyptians shall serve the Lord with 
the Assyrians. In that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt 
and Assyria." Isaiah, xix. 18 —24. This whole passage, ex- 
tremely poetic in style, is a prophecy of the progress which should 
be made by the Jewish religion under the Ptolemies, during 
which period there were a million of Jews established in Egypt, 
whose teaching and example must have greatly diffused the know T - 
ledge of the true God and of revelation,, and from whom even the 
nations of the interior of Asia derived benefit. It was impossible 
more effectually to undermine particularism than by placing Israel 
as the third with two strange nations in the service of the true 
God. 



NOTES TO BOOK III. 193 

The intention of Providence of gradually preparing universalism 
by diffusing among strange nations some hopes of the advent of a 
Messiah, and the wisdom of the means employed to this end, find 
a curious confirmation in the narrative of the arrival of the magi 
at Jerusalem. Of these magi, tradition has made kings ; the 
first interpreters of the Scripture opened the way to these errors 
by interpreting, literally, some expressions in the Prophets and the 
Psalms, and resting upon the ideas of the Jews who expected a 
temporal Messiah, the King of kings, before whom all men should 
bow : the Psalmist, in describing the glory of Solomon, says : 
" The kings of Tarshish and of the isles shall bring presents : 
the kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts." Ps. lxxii. 10. 
Isaiah, in one of his Messianic prophecies, has said in a more ex- 
plicit manner : — " Kings shall see and arise, princes also shall 
worship." Isaiah, xlix. 7. These passages probably contain the 
origin of those legends of tradition which has also endeavoured to 
fix the number of kings, viz., three, solely because three kinds of 
presents, "gold, and frankincense, and myrrh," Matt. ii. 11, are 
mentioned in the Gospel. These fables have not the slightest 
historical foundation, and deserve no attention/notwithstanding the 
endeavours which have been made to consecrate them, by erecting to 
these imaginary kings in a cathedral, a cenotaph loaded with 
jewels. The word magus is of Persian origin and very ancient ; it 
signified priests, wise men, philosophers ; it appears that, from the 
earliest historical times in Asia, these magi formed sorts of colleges 
or institutions, which corresponded with one another, obeyed a 
supreme head, and were principally occupied with drawing up 
calendars, consequently, therefore, with astronomy, astrology, medi- 
cine, and physics, and preserved the old traditions. Since the time 
of Alexander, their credit, science, and numbers, had been greatly 
diminished ; the current of philosophy had flowed back towards 
Europe, in consequence of the Greek and Roman ascendancy; and 
the foundation of Alexandria had greatly favoured this change. 
It is, however, certain, from the testimony of writers contemporary, 
or nearly so, with the Gospel, that men addicted to these studies, 
and known by this name, were still dispersed in Asia, and espe- 
cially in Persia and Arabia. In the interval between the overthrow 
of the Jews under Nebuchadnezzar, and their restoration under 
Cyrus, Daniel, the author of the celebrated prophecy of seventy 
weeks of years, which were to elapse between Cyrus and the 
Gospel, had been the head of these magi. The recollection of 
this remarkable prophecy would naturally be preserved among 
them, and would be strongly awakened at the moment when, ac- 
cording to the impartial testimony of three Roman historians, a 

K 



194 NOTES TO BOOK III. 

rumour was everywhere diffused that a master of the world was 
about to show himself in the East. The appearance of a meteor, 
perhaps of a comet, struck these magi, who were always occupied 
with astrology. They believed that this phenomenon, coinciding 
with the date of Daniel's prophecy, announced its accomplish- 
ment ; the personage whose advent was predicted by Daniel must, 
according to their ideas, be a king ; some of them, therefore, fol- 
lowing the universal custom of the ancients, that of undertaking 
journeys for the purpose of verifying facts of science, went into 
Judea, not to a village like Bethlehem, but to the capital, and 
inquired, " Where is he that is born king of the Jews ? for we 
have seen his star in the East," Matt. ii. 2 ; that is, according to 
the erroneous ideas of astrology, the star announcing his birth. 
This circumstance of the nativity, when thus explained, far from 
presenting any difficulty, is a confirmation both of the fact that 
the expectation of the Messiah was general, and of the meaning 
of the prophecy of weeks. The presents offered by the magi 
afford an example of the ancient and universal usage of the 
Eastern nations, followed even in the present day, never to 
approach princes and great personages without bringing gifts, 
among which are always some pieces of gold : and it must be re- 
marked, that in the whole conduct of the magi there is nothing 
religious. 

(80.) " For what nation is there so great, who hath God so 
nigh unto them (their gods) as the Lord our God is in all things 
that we call upon him for ? And what nation is there so great 
that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law, 
which I set before you this day ? " Deut. iv. 7, 8. f( Only the 
Lord (the Lord only) had a delight in thy fathers to love them," 
x. 15 ; . . . " to make thee high above all nations which he hath 
made." xxvi. 1Q. 

(81.) " The Lord did not set his love upon you, nor choose 
you, because ye were more in number than any people (for ye 
were the fewest of all people) ; but because the Lord loved you, 
and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your 
fathers. ..." Deut. vii. 7, 8. 

(82.) "Is not he (the Lord) thy father? . . . hath he not 
made thee, and established thee ? " Deut. xxxii. 6. . . . " When 
he (Jacob) seeth his children, the work of mine hands ..." 
Isaiah, xix. 23. " Know ye that the Lord he is God : it is he 
that hath made us, and not we ourselves." (We have not made 
ourselves his people.) Ps. c. 3. 

(83.) The immense responsibility of the generation in whose 
days the Gospel was revealed, is expressed in the strongest terms : 



i 



NOTES TO BOOK III. 195 

The true light " came unto his own, and his own received him 
not." John, i. 11. "They have Moses and the prophets; let 
them hear them." Luke, xvi. 29. " I am come in my Father's 
name, and ye receive me not : if another shall come in his own 
name, him ye will receive. ... Do not think that I will accuse 
you to the Father ; there is one that accuseth you, even Moses, 
in whom ye trust : for had ye believed Moses, ye would have 
believed me, for he wrote of me." John, v. 43. 45, 46. " O 
Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest 
them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered 
thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under 
her wings, and ye would not ! " Matt, xxiii. 37 j Luke, xiii. 
34. Again, in his reproaches to his adversaries, Christ says — 
" Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites ! for ye shut 
up the kingdom of heaven against men : woe unto you, lawyers ! 
for ye have taken away the key of knowledge ; for ye neither go 
in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in." 
Matt, xxiii. 13 ; Luke, xi. 52. And when some well-disposed 
listeners inquired of the apostles, " Men and brethren, what 
shall we do ? " they were obliged to reply, " Save yourselves 
from this untoward generation." Acts, ii. 37 — 40. The calling 
of the Gentiles was announced as a sort of punishment and 
humiliation for the people of God, thus dispossessed : " I say 
unto you," said the master of the feast, " that none of those 
men which were bidden shall taste of my supper." Luke, xiv. 
24. " The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given 
to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof." Matt. xxi. 43. 

(84.) The Lord said to Moses, " Now therefore let me alone, 
that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may con- 
sume them ; and (but) I will make of thee a great nation." 
Ex. xxxii. 10. "... I will make of thee a greater nation, and 
mightier than they." Numb. xiv. 12. "... God is able of 
these stones (on the banks of the Jordan) to raise up children 
unto Abraham," Matt. iii. 9 i ana " during the wanderings in 
the wilderness, there was a moment at which Providence was on 
the point of declaring the religious degradation of Israel from the 
high station of people of God, and scattering them among the 
nations : " I lifted up mine hand unto them, also, in the wilder- 
ness, that I would scatter them among the heathen, and disperse 
them through the countries." Ezek. xx. 23. This passage in 
the prophet agrees with the words of the song of Moses : " I said 
I would scatter them into corners, I would make the remem- 
brance of them to cease from among men : were it not that I 
feared the wrath of the enemy, lest their adversaries should be- 

K 2 



196 NOTES TO BOOK III. 






have themselves strangely ; and lest they should say, Our hand is 
high, and the Lord hath not done all this." Deut. xxxii. 
26, 27. 

(85.) " My well-beloved hath (had) a vineyard in a very fruit- 
ful hill : and he fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and 
planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst 
of it (to protect it from the devastations of the Nomadic tribes), 
and also made a wine-press therein ; and he looked that it should 
bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes : and now, 
O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge, I pray 
you, betwixt me and my vineyard. What could have been done 
more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it ? " Isaiah, v. 
1 — 4. " O my people, what have I done unto thee? And 
wherein have I wearied thee? " (given thee pain.) Micah, vi. 3. 
e( Thus saith the Lord, what iniquity have your fathers found in 
me (what wrong have I done to them), that they are gone far 
from me . . . ? " Jer. ii. 5. 

(86) " What advantage, then, hath the Jew ? . . . Much 
every way : chiefly, because that unto them were committed the 
oracles of God" (that is, the Revelations). Rom. iii. 1, 2. 
Isaiah had said to them, " . . . Out of Zion shall go forth the 
law, and the word of the Lord out of Jerusalem, thence to be 
diffused among all nations." Isaiah, ii. 3. 



197 



BOOK IV. 

THEORY OF REVELATION. 



* ( Audeo dicere, fratres mei, forsitan nee ipse Johannes dixit ut est, sed 
et ipse ut potuit ; quia de Deo homo dixit, et quidem inspiratus a Deo, 
sed tamen homo ; quia inspiratus, dixit aliquid; si non inspiratus esset, 
dixisset nihil ; quia vero homo inspiratus non totum quod est dixit, sed 
quod potuit homo dixit." — St. August. Tract I. in Joan. Evang. 

" Sed nolo supra fidei meae captum argute philosophari. Et videmus 
Dei spiritum adeo ejusmodi argutias non probare, ut nobiscum balbu- 
tlens, quam sobrie de tantis arcanis sapiendum sit, tacendo clamet." 

Calvin on the Proem of St. John's Gospel 



CHAP. XLI. 

REVELATION A HISTORY OF TRUE RELIGION. 

Every instance of redemption must be subordinate to 
the creation which it proposes to amend, to repair, to 
remake, to regenerate. A redemption is the correction 
of a creation, the complement, or the renewal of a cre- 
ation (1), and consequently must be what the nature of 
the creation requires. In other words, it is a remedy, 
whose speciality depends on that of the evil which it 
proposes to cure. 

Redemption being subordinate to creation, it follows 
that the idea of a Redeemer is subordinate to that of a 
Creator ; the one depends upon the other, the two 
notions are correlative ; this great principle is as pregnant 

K 3 



198 REVELATION A HISTORY 

as it is simple, and may be summed up in the two 
immense words : As God, so Christ. (2) 

Seeing, that the idea of God and that of a Redeemer 
are so far corollaries of one another, it follows that 
Revelation — the testimony of redemption, must always 
be based upon a pure notion of God. (3) The idea of 
God and that of the Redeemer will have to pass down 
through ages together, and, so to speak, abreast : Reve- 
lation, therefore, can be nothing else than the history 
of the idea of God amongst men ; in other words, the 
history of true religion. 

The notion of God leads to that of creation ; that of 
creation to that of providence, which has been well 
denned to be creation continued. The notion of a 
being who creates, and then abandons, disinherits, 
forgets his works and his children, is manifestly self- 
contradictory. (4) Providence can neither be arbitrary 
nor partial, it extends over all. If then there are two 
creations, there are two providences ; or, to speak more 
exactly, and to separate less that which really forms 
but one, there is in providence a double province, a 
double care ; that which preserves the worlds in their 
orbits, with their fixed laws, their definite proportions, 
and their inimitable harmonies ; and that which in the 
universe administers the worlds of intelligence, — of con- 
science, of the affections, of our power of enjoyment, and 
religious faculties. The culture of human religiousness 
is only one of the cares, one of the superintendences, of 
these worlds ; and as God clothes the grass of the field 
with verdure, he clothes our understandings with 
truth. 

The one of these dominions is as necessary as the 
other ; mind can no more do without government and 
direction than matter. Should God withdraw his breathy 



OF TRUE RELIGION. 199 

all existing things, moral and physical, would be anni- 
hilated ; and there is no providence, if there is not, so 
to speak, a spiritual providence. (5) 

It may be still further said, the world, as it appears, 
could better dispense with a material than a moral pro- 
vidence ; because the physical world, being deprived of 
freedom, is subjected to laws established once for all 
from the beginning, which operate without variation, 
abatement, or renewal. (6) Causes and effects cor- 
respond, like the crenulated teeth of an immense wheel 
always in motion. But beings endowed with freedom, 
and created for progress, require that moral providence 
which governs from day to day ; a phraseology which 
may be appropriately used, since with God " one day 
is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one 
day." 

It is therefore impossible that the spiritual providence 
should cease for a moment to watch over the develop- 
ment of the religious instinct in man, the maintenance 
of the knowledge of God, the hereditary and traditional 
expectation of a Redeemer; in a word, this spiritual 
providence, which establishes and maintains the domi- 
nion of moral influences, as physical providence gives 
dominion in nature to calms and storms, has, within the 
limits of human freedom, favoured the influence of the 
double idea of God and Christ, of a creation and a 
redemption, ideas which once united must always so 
remain. And, in short, this is merely to say, that the 
Creator has persevered in the design of creation ; and 
having created man for progress, he continues to direct 
this progress. (7) 

It is not, therefore, merely human activity which is 
displayed, but along with it divine activity also is ne- 
cessarily manifested in the scenes of Revelation, What 

X 4 



200 DIVINE AND HUMAN 

would a Revelation be, were God to take no part in its 
action. (8) 

Whence it follows that Revelation is a written pro- 
vidence. 

Believers are, in fact, those in whom Providence 
confides. (9) 



CHAP. XLII. 

DIVINE AND HUMAN ELEMENTS IN REVELATION. 

Whatever definition of Revelation we prefer, whether 
we consider it as the annals of true religion, the history 
of the development of the notion of God, the progressive 
transmission of the hope of salvation, or the plans of 
Providence committed to writing ; each and all of these 
definitions infallibly suggest the double character of 
Revelation, the combination of two activities ; that of 
God, and that of man. Blot out God from the idea, it 
is no longer a Revelation ; but take away man, and what 
would it be then ? 

This meeting of two activities, employed in the same 
acts, is not successive, the one is not detached and apart 
from the other, it does not manifest itself by a perpetual 
change from one to the other; this union does not 
consist in each making way alternately for the other, 
so that one shall be at repose whilst the other is in 
operation, and thus act reciprocally : these alternations 
would constitute two different labours and not one 
common labour, not a fusion, a true harmony, an 
intimate alliance. The co-operation of these two acti- 
vities must be constant and consecutive ; both inces- 
santly at work ; the influence of both permanent and 
reciprocal ; both always cause and always effect. AH 



ELEMENTS IN REVELATION. 201 

these ideas are in accord with an important principle 
previously laid down, viz., that activity is continuous. 

But if in the scenes of Revelation these two activities, 
divine and human, are continuous, it follows that they 
are not merely in juxta-position, but incessantly and 
everywhere mingled and operative together. 

Whence we must conclude it to be impossible to 
draw a clear and definite line of separation in Revelation, 
between the activity of God and that of man. (10) The 
line of demarcation is often uncertain, confused, and 
invisible. 

What human eye, piercing the vapours of the air 
through which light reaches us, is able throughout its 
whole circumference to determine where the earth's 
atmosphere ends, and the heavenly ether begins ? 

This mysterious uncertainty is merely a new aspect 
of the mystery, everywhere recurring, that of the vo- 
luntary withdrawal of the creative will in order to 
allow created wills to act without restraint. Who can 
say how, at what point, or at what moment it with- 
draws ? and when and where it interposes ? It is ob- 
vious, however, that these two matters of fact — the first, 
that the human mind takes a part in the work of Reve- 
lation ; and, secondly, that the limit between Divine 
interposition and human activity is imperceptible^- are 
indifferent to faith. Inspiration must always have been 
imparted in the needful proportion, and perfect harmony 
been preserved between the supreme intelligence which 
presided over the work, and the limited intelligence 
called upon to introduce the human element, and to 
spread over it a human colouring. (11) Without in- 
timate and constant accord, Revelation would have failed 
of its object, and God deceived the world. (12) 



K 5 



202 OF INSPIRATION. 



CHAP. XLIII. 

OF INSPIRATION. 

God's share in Revelation is called inspiration. 

Inspiration is a transmission of ideas from God 
man. 

God and man being intelligent beings, a mutual 
transmission of ideas is conceivable, if the nature of 
God and that of man permit this exchange. (13) 

An intelligent being, who is at the same time endowed 
with affections, cannot keep his intelligence to and for 
himself alone. Selfishness in knowledge is contrary to 
a nature gifted with affections. This is true as regards 
man. The search after, and the discovery of truth is 
one of the means of his progress, one of the secrets of 
his happiness, and consequently he is impelled to com- 
municate his knowledge. A being endowed with af- 
fections who knows, wishes those whom he loves to 
know also. He learns, not for himself alone, but for 
others ; he learns and teaches with an equal degree of 
pleasure. God is love ; consequently, inspiration is in 
perfect harmony with his nature, and it is easy to un- 
derstand that Divine intelligence must be expansive, 
whilst it would be impossible to form an idea of God 
keeping all his knowledge to himself. 

Inspiration, therefore, on the part of God, is a ne- 
cessity which results from his essence, and to deny all 
inspiration is to deny that God is love. (14) 

Inspiration, as regards our reason and truth, is what 
grace or spiritual providence is as regards our conscience 
and virtue. 

Inspiration, therefore, is clearly nothing but an in- 
tellectual relation between God and man : and a God 



OF INSPIRATION. 203 

without relations with his creatures is not God, for he 
is not God the Creator. 

Providence is a universal Theocracy. Theocracy, pro- 
perly so called, is merely a rational providence acting 
for a particular end ; inspiration is nothing but an in- 
dividual Theocracy. 

All our tendencies contribute to our relations with 
God ; in other words, to the development of the re- 
ligious tendency, to the approximation of the creature 
to the Creator. 

Our moral force aspires to bring our will into har- 
mony with his. 

Our affections, to love as he loves. 

Our faculty of enjoyment, to possess our happiness 
as securely as he possesses his. 

How then should the intellectual powers alone remain 
excluded from, and beyond the sphere of these intimate 
relations ? 

It is vain to allege that God ought to have endowed 
the human soul with faculties sufficient for the discovery 
and preservation of religious truth, and thus have ren- 
dered inspiration unnecessary. (15) By reasoning in 
this manner, it is not merely inspiration and Revelation 
that is denied, the denial reaches farther ; redemption 
too is denied. Without redemption there would be no 
Revelation, which constitutes merely its evidence and 
record. Redemption alone has rendered Revelation ne- 
cessary ; and, as God could not grant the remedy before 
the evil, viz. sin, he could not grant light equivalent to 
the importance of the testimony, viz. Revelation, had 
there been no salvation of which it was necessary to 
bear witness. (16) 



K 6 



204? OF THE MODES 



CHAP. XLIV. 

OF THE MODES OF INSPIRATION. 

Inspiration is not only mysterious as far as relates to 
the line which separates the Divine and human thought, 
it is also mysterious as concerns the means of transmis- 
sion from the mind of God to that of man. 

Why should we be astonished at finding here a mys- 
tery ? In order to know how God transmits his thoughts, 
we must obviously know how God thinks. (17) 

Both the forms of providence, that of the physical 
and that of the moral world, are equally unknown. 
Man knows no better how a thought reaches his soul 
than he does how the sun's rays reach his eyes ; and, if 
he denies inspiration because he cannot follow out its 
path to the human mind, in order to be consequent 
he ought to deny light because he cannot explain the 
manner in which it penetrates to the bottom of the eye. 
In relation to our ignorance, it is as far from the retina 
which covers the interior of the visual organ, to the 
globe of the sun, as from our spirit to the spirit of 
God ; only we have a prism to decompose the rays or 
waves of luminous matter ; we have no prism for the 
rays of divine thought, and man, in his pride, hesitates 
to believe in the radiation, except with the prism in his 
hand. (18) 

All that it is possible for us to know, or permitted 
us to say respecting the means of inspiration, may be 
summed up in this, that these means are such as must 
be conformable both to the nature of God and to that 
of man. 

God is a spirit. When our religiousness interrogates 
our intelligence, and submits its aspirations towards the 



OF INSPIRATION. 205 

ideal and infinite to the control of reason, it only con- 
ceives God as immaterial. 

God is eternal ; that is, duration is agglomerated in 
his thought into an infinite moment. Our intuitions 
of time are foreign to God. 

God is immense or omnipresent ; that is, space is 
concentrated under his sight in an infinite point ; our 
notion of distance is foreign to God. 

As to death, it is no more apparent in his eyes than 
the insensible increase which an instant of life adds to 
an infant's stature is to ours. (19) 

Thus the more the means of inspiration are inde- 
pendent of time, space, matter, and death, the more 
conformable they are to the nature of God. 

But there are to be met with in our present human 
existence, our actual phase of progress, momentary con- 
ditions of being, which disengage our minds from the 
bondage of time, space, matter, and death. (See Book II. 
Chaps, xxvi. and xxviii.) 

These accidents of our present state of being are 
especially sleep and ecstasy. 

The intellectual emancipation of the state of sleep, 
and the intellectual intensity of a state of ecstasy, are, 
therefore, those human conditions most propitious to 
inspiration, the circumstances most favourable to faci- 
litate and insure such meetings of the spirit of God and 
the spirit of man — such transmissions of Divine ideas. 

The facts of Christianity correspond to these con- 
siderations drawn from the nature of man. 

In all the scenes of Revelation we observe the phe- 
nomena of sleep — dreams and visions employed as 
means, and selected as moments of inspiration (20), 
from the first sleep of Adam, from which he awoke for 
his first love. 



206 FREE WILL THE FIRST LIMIT 

In all the scenes of Revelation, the state of ecstasy 
and of enthusiasm is produced or employed in favour of 
inspiration. The intensity of thought becomes ecstatic, 
leisurely contemplates visions, which, with more or less 
precision, are invested with the colours and appearances 
of reality, and represent the Divine will and instruc- 
tions. (21) 

It is important to observe, that this examination of the 
ways and means of inspiration throws no light whatever 
On the mystery which covers it, and does not even decide 
the question, whether Revelation, properly so called, is 
inspired, or whether the authors of Revelation were so 
themselves: a question which Revelation has never 
started ; so obvious is it that the blessing concerns man, 
and the means God. (22) 



CHAP. XLV. 

FREE WILL THE FIRST LIMIT OF INSPIRATION. 

There are several necessary limits of inspiration, mark- 
ing the precise points at which the Divine spirit is 
arrested, in order to leave the human mind to itself; in 
all the inspirations which he granted, God has placed 
three barriers, which they neither could nor ought to 
pass ; their natural limits are indicated by — 

The inviolability of free will ; 

The exercise of reason ; and 

The inadequacy of language. 

Religiousness, as we have seen, can no more be con- 
strained than conscience. In order that morality may be 
free, faith must be free also ; if compelled to believe, 
man would be compelled to act, and it is impossible to 
imagine a being endowed with moral liberty, who does 



OF INSPIRATION. 207 

not also possess religious freedom ; this merely amounts 
to saying, that a free being is free in the whole of his 
being. Had, then, such a revelation been given, as 
should have overruled the human mind with an irresis- 
tible power and rendered doubt impossible, free will 
would have been violated. (23) 

Suppose, that the human mind, in order to arrive at 
belief, had no researches and no efforts to make, but 
merely, like Stephen, to raise its eyes to see the heavens 
opened, and the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of 
God, free will would be annihilated, and responsibility 
along with it ; man would believe too easily. 

Suppose the human mind to be right when, like 
Agrippa, it suffers itself to be persuaded, to be only 
almost a Christian ; doubt would be just ; man would 
not believe enough ; Revelation would be insufficient ; 
the wrong of unbelief would not attach to man, but to 
God. 

Inspiration had to take a mean between these two 
extremes ; and this observation serves to complete the 
proof, that the line of demarcation between the part of 
God and that of man, in Revelation, escapes the rash and 
fruitless researches of human sagacity. 

The human mind only sees truth placed under three 
aspects, at three points of distance, with three degrees 
of clearness, as doubtful, certain, or obvious. 

When reason hesitates and refuses to pronounce 
either for or against, there is doubt. (24) 

When reason acknowledges the need of proofs, calls 
for them, and relies on the proofs which it accepts, 
there is certainty. (25) 

When reason admits the uselessness of proofs ; 
acquiesces without requiring any ; and, if upon^eilec- 
tion it seeks for any, is not mistaken as to their use, 



208 REASON THE SECOND LIMIT 

feels that these proofs are objects of superfluity, and 
that it has performed a work of supererogation ; then 
there is obviousness, (26) 

Revelation, like the whole of religion, could not be 
either doubtful or obvious ; doubtful would have been 
too little ; obvious, too much ; it was necessary it 
should be certain — nothing more, nothing less. (27) 

As regards its first limit, inspiration, under pain of 
failing in its aim, must have gone much beyond doubt, 
and stopped much on this side of obviousness. 



CHAP. XLVI. 

REASON THE SECOND LIMIT OF INSPIRATION. 

The second limit imposed upon inspiration, was marked 
by the necessity of leaving reason to continue its own 
proper culture, and to follow its own law of develop- 
ment. In coming to the aid of the intellectual powers, 
the object of inspiration was to come to the aid of con- 
science and religiousness ; it did not assist intelligence 
for its own sake, or because it was deficient in its 
natural vigour, but for the general interests of redemp- 
tion, that is, of progress. (28) Inspiration could not, 
therefore, become wholly a substitute for reason, and 
perform its task (29); or, in other words, inspiration was 
only designed to teach moral and religious truth, and 
by no means scientific truth in any of its branches, 
neither physics, history, nor philosophy. 

Revelation being the testimony of redemption, it 
was not necessary that it should testify of any thing 
besides. 

What would have happened, had God, instead of 
granting inspiration for the promotion of religious and 






OF INSPIRATION. £09 

moral truths, bestowed this gift also, for the support 
of those truths which lie within the domain of pure 
reason. This would have been a complete abolition of 
human reason ; for to take away the subject matter in 
which a faculty should employ its powers, is to destroy 
it ; to remove the object towards which a tendency is 
directed, is to annihilate the tendency. 

Revelation opens with a cosmogony. Had the object 
of inspiration been to teach scientific truth, the first 
cosmogony would necessarily have been complete, and 
left nothing afterwards to investigate. The hammer of 
the geologist and the mineralogist would not have had 
a blow to strike. (30) 

Revelation, in its very first pages, presents a geogra- 
phical and ethnographical picture. Had inspiration 
drawn it, geography would have spoken its first and its 
last word at the same time ; the fleets of the Columbuses 
and of the Gamas would have remained in their har- 
bours, for the maker of the world was thoroughly ac- 
quainted with the work of his hands and the names of 
his children. A periplus described by God himself 
could not have forgotten any thing ; it would have em- 
braced the circumference of the globe. (31) 

Revelation sometimes speaks the language of astro- 
nomy and sometimes of physics. Had inspiration re- 
echoed in the voices of those who spoke — had it guided 
the pens of those who wrote, what astronomy and what 
physics would it have taught ? Doubtless, the true, 
Divine, infallible — that of the geometer who marks the 
instant of the rising of the heavenly bodies ; that of the 
naturalist who sees where the treasures of the snow are 
hidden; that of the physiologist who knows by what secret 
growth the bones are formed in the mother s womb. How 
should inspiration give a false view of astronomy, or 



210 REASON THE SECOND LIMIT 






teach, an erroneous system of physics ? (32) It would 
clearly follow, that science, which is the object of reason, 
having been taught to the human mind all at once and 
completely, reason would no longer find materials ; the 
intellectual tendency would have nothing towards which 
it could be directed. 

What, and if, as a last resource, it should be main- 
tained that inspiration could and ought to have contri- 
buted its aid to scientific as well as to religious truth, 
by expressing science in a language not capable of being 
comprehended till a later period — by degrees, as fast 
and as soon as discoveries were made ; so that Moses 
and Joshua having spoken without knowing it, and 
three thousand years beforehand, the language of New- 
ton and Cuvier, it would have been necessary to wait 
with patience those three thousand years to understand 
it; a single word is sufficient to refute an absurdity 
which refutes itself. It is always in the interest of 
religious truth, that scientific language is occasionally 
employed in Revelation ; the cosmogony with which it 
opens is an antidote against idolatry ; historical facts 
are the mere vehicles of religious progress (33) ; the 
little of metaphysics with which one meets, is never 
given but from the point of view of faith. (34) It was 
impossible that the language employed for religious 
truth, should have been suited to the intellectual pro- 
gress of the various contemporaries of Revelation, and 
at the same time the language employed for scientific 
truth completely beyond their reach. 

It would have been equally impossible never to have 
introduced the language of science into Revelation ; our 
tendencies, although distinct, yet lie so near each other 
as to render it impossible to avoid all ramifications and 
admixture. Revelation could not, therefore, always 



OF INSPIRATION. 211 

speak of religion without ever using the language of 
science ; it follows, however, from all that has been 
said, that its language of science could be no other than 
that of the times. 

In short, religious and moral truth exist in Revelation 
in a relative degree only ; scientific truth, therefore, 
could not be found there in an absolute degree. 

These considerations end in leading to the discovery 
that Revelation must contain errors in what regards 
scientific truth. This was a condition strictly necessary 
to the gift of Revelation. (35) 

Those who are either astonished or grieved at the 
fact, are surprised, or regret that God, in giving a reve- 
lation to man, should not have deprived him of his 
reasoning faculties. 

And one of the great proofs of the Divine origin of 
Revelation is, that in expressing itself with authority, 
and without reasoning upon religious truth, it affects 
no authority in matters of science. 

CHAP. XLVII. 

LANGUAGE THE THIRD LIMIT OP INSPIRATION. 

The third necessary limit of inspiration is to be found 
in language. 

All inspiration must have been subject to the law of 
social compact ; in other words, no man could have 
been inspired solely for himself, solely with a view to 
his own advantage ; no one could have monopolised any 
inspiration whatever ; the privilege of receiving must 
always have implied the duty of diffusing, and making 
it instrumental to social well-being. (36) 

God, as we have seen, bestowed inspiration, because 
he is love. 



212 LANGUAGE THE THIRD LIMIT 

Man who received it, made after God's image, has 
by the very nature of his affections an inclination, a 
duty and happiness in rendering the gift of inspiration 
useful to others, as it has been useful to himself. (37) 

The means of communication by which the whole 
world might be made partakers of the teaching of 
inspiration, could be none other than the natural 
and universal means of communication — speech, lan- 
guage. (38) 

What other means could have been employed which 
would not have disturbed the relation of brotherhood 
among men, and ended by constituting an exclusive 
privilege ? (39) 

Whence, it follows, that all inspiration should issue in 
being spoken aloud — reduced to writing ; all transmis- 
sion of Divine ideas necessarily involves their being 
reduced to human words. 

False religions only, those solemn and hypocritical 
attempts to drain the multitude for the benefit of 
priestly aristocracies, are in possession of sacred lan- 
guages and sacred writings. 

In every case of inspiration below God who thinks, 
there is man who expresses. 

The word is the clothing of the idea ; an idea never 
presents itself made, the human mind can only conceive 
it under the drapery of expression. If it ever happens 
that an idea presents itself without being accompanied 
by the expression which renders it, the human mind 
hastens to create the equivalent word ; if the word is 
not found, the idea remains vague and inappreciable, or 
more frequently is lost. Hence, it follows, that the more 
clearly an idea is understood, with the greater ease and 
certainty do we find the equivalent expression. (40) 

The question of spiritual or literal inspiration, of in- 



OF INSPIRATION. 213 

spiration limited to thoughts or extended to words, is 
therefore decided by the conclusions of our theory. (41) 
Wherever there is inspiration, as reliance may be 
placed upon the ideas, we can also, within certain limits, 
rely upon the words, and literal inspiration falls down 
to the rank of questions in grammar and exegesis. 

The necessity of applying some measure to, and of 
placing some restriction upon the confidence due to 
words which express inspiration, written or spoken, is 
justified by the very nature of language. 

Language being only an instrument, a means, an 
interpreter, it is necessarily inferior in excellence to the 
mind by which it is employed ; the artist is always 
superior to his tools ; the subject is superior to its 
mode of relation. 

Whence it follows, that thought is always superior to 
expression — that profound sentiments remain silent — 
that no one can find words which correspond exactly to 
his ideas or passions — and that the more elevated the 
conceptions of the mind, and the more ardent the emo- 
tions of the heart, are, the more do we seek in vain 
for words commensurate with the intensity either of 
intelligence or sensibility. The idea overwhelms 
the expression ; the expression does not constitute its 
measure. 

Sublimity in style consists in the employment of lan- 
guage equal to the sublimity of the idea. (42) 

This inferiority of language, compared with the 
thoughts and affections which it is used to express, is 
merely one of the aspects of the relative inferiority 
between mind and matter, body and soul. 

This inferiority must vary according to the nature of 
the five tendencies, which language is the means of 
developing and expounding. 



214 LANGUAGE THE THIRD LIMIT 

The intellectual power is that which suffers the least; 
human reason and human language are almost upon a 
level. 

The moral power, next to the intellectual, is that 
with which language most easily harmonises :, it is but 
very rarely that the heroism of duty and devotedness 
fails in finding expressions whose energy corresponds 
to its own : and the very simplicity of heroism often 
suffices to re-establish the equilibrium. 

The affections and sensibilities of our nature find it 
much more difficult to use language strong enough to 
be the vehicle of their intensity ; in their case, this 
deficiency is so great, that, remarkable fact ! the most 
intense joy, the deepest sorrow, and the strongest pas- 
sions, are dumb ; they retire into themselves ; and for 
want of power to express themselves with an energy 
worthy of their feeling, they disdain to communicate at 
all. (43) 

A fortiori, human language is inferior to human re- 
ligiousness. (44) 

This leads too often to affectation and euphe- 
mism; by a strange reversal the affectation of ascetic 
language, or mysticism, returns to the impurities of 
earth, and borrows the most sensual expressions to give 
utterance to the ardour of those feelings which are the 
least sensual. 

Here one of the great dangers of asceticism presents 
itself in all its crudity ; from words it comes to things ; 
and after having taught and accustomed the mind to 
confound the love of the Creator with that of the crea- 
ture in words only, it leads it to confound these feelings 
in reality, and to mistake the one for the image and 
incentive to the other. 

These remarks upon the insufficiency of human Ian- 



OF INSPIRATION. 215 

guage are matters of universal experience : it is not 
merely men of rare intelligence and sensibility, of impas- 
sioned characters, sensitive consciences, or fervent re- 
ligion, who are conscious of its poverty ; it is a want 
which we have all experienced. Who says always all 
that he wishes to say ? Who has not had occasion to 
know and feel that the expression of his ideas, the effu- 
sion of his sentiments, the aspirations of his prayers, 
were but imperfectly expressed ? Who has not had in 
his mind, and especially in his heart, more than he was 
able to find utterance for ? 

If the reach of human language is in such various 
ways inferior to our tendencies, how great must be this 
inferiority when human religiousness receives the im- 
press of inspiration, when the spirit of man labours 
under the pressure of the spirit of God, when the 
thought to be uttered is that of God himself ? (45) 

Why, it may be said, does not God place a better 
language at the disposal of inspiration — a language 
more suited to the divine development of the spirit of 
man, and to the transmission of divine ideas ? 

This would be no longer a human language ; it 
would not be intelligible to man. (46) 

God, in making his servants speak to man upon 
earth, could only make them employ terrestrial lan- 
guage ; which comes back to saying that redemption, a 
corrective granted to our actual phase of progress, could 
only be supported by testimony suited to the conditions 
of that phase. 

Elsewhere doubtless God speaks otherwise ; here, 
God, in order to make himself understood, could only 
speak as one of us. 

The weakness of language, written or spoken, pre- 
sented an unavoidable barrier, before which inspiration 



216 NATURE OF THE PROOFS 

halted of itself ; and the grave consequence to be de- 
duced from the foregoing consideration is, that in the 
Bible, whilst the thought is divine, the expression is 
human. (47) 



CHAP. XLVIII. 

NATURE OF THE PROOFS OF INSPIRATION. 



. 



The necessary limits which Divine inspiration accepts, 
must render the human mind so much more careful and 
cautious in examining the proofs of its reality. 

The proofs of inspiration can only be such as are 
objective, exterior, visible. 

If subjective, the proofs would be reduced to the 
mere assertion of the author of a discourse, or a book, 
that such discourse or book contained a Revelation, or 
that the author attributed that value to his teachings, 
and declared himself inspired. 

In such a case, however, no one ought to be believed 
on his word ; because he who wrongly believes himself, 
and declares himself inspired, may be thoroughly sincere 
in believing what he says ; no one, however, neither 
the simple believer when he reads a Revelation, and 
declares that the Holy Spirit gives him the sense of it, 
nor the sacred author when he pens one, ought to 
gain confidence upon mere personal affirmation. His 
reveries by day and visions by night, his habits of en- 
thusiasm, a state of ecstasy, and even the loss of reason, 
may have deceived him first, and he will afterwards 
innocently deceive others. His assertion, his personal 
guarantee, is, therefore, worthless ; and subjective proof 
is no proof at all. 

The man inspired says, The spirit of God has spoken 






OF INSPIRATION. 217 

to me ! How does he know that he has not spoken to 
himself; and, therefore, how could you believe him on 
his simple declaration ? (48) 

This proof is so worthless, because it is not suscep- 
tible of any control, not subject to any examination. 
What discussion is possible with a man who calls him- 
self inspired ? You can find no more means of unde- 
ceiving him than he can find of convincing you. The 
conversation will of necessity be reduced to a mere 
exchange of affirmations and denials, without the pos- 
sibility of the slightest argument finding an opportunity 
of admission. 

Integrity of character, exalted genius, the moral or 
literary beauty of a work, the rapidity of propagation 
of a law or a religion, the number of its adherents, and 
the disproportion of the means of proselytism employed 
to the success obtained, the absence of all compulsion, 
and the constancy of martyrs, are real presumptions in 
favour of a truth, but not in favour of the heavenly 
origin of that truth. 

Neither virtue, genius, nor glory, are preservatives 
against the illusions of madness or ecstasy ; and, conse- 
quently, if we attach any weight to these pretended 
proofs, we forget that there is no protection against the 
serious danger of confounding a man who is insane or 
enthusiastic, with one who is inspired (49) ; or of accusing 
true inspiration of madness. (50) 

This danger is so much the more imminent as, whilst 
there are no means of guarding the human mind against 
the stroke of madness, which frequently takes a religious 
shade, there are certain means of plunging the mind 
into a state of reverie and of ecstasy, of which the person 
affected becomes the first dupe. Ignatius Loyola, 
among others, taught this receipt to his followers. 

L 



218 NATURE OF THE PROOFS OF INSPIRATION. 






The impossibility of subjective proof of inspiration 
results from the fact of its being itself completely sub- 
jective ; in other words, inspiration acts upon the mind 
of him alone who receives it : from that time he alone 
has the evidence of its existence ; he becomes judge in 
his own cause, and loses his impartiality ; he is a wit- 
ness in his own favour, and ceases to be worthy of 
credit. (51) 

The whole history of the human mind, that of all 
religions, and of some systems of philosophy, concur in 
demonstrating the worthlessness of all subjective proofs 
of inspiration. How many dreamers and enthusiasts 
have come forth as ambassadors from heaven, fully per- 
suaded in their own minds of the truth of their preten- 
sions, founded upon faith in their visions ! Blind 
leading the blind, they have not always been mutually 
undeceived at the bottom of the precipice to which their 
singular confidence in their mission has endecj by 
dragging them. (52) 

A revelation is always super-rational ; the proofs of 
a revelation cannot be merely rational, for this would 
be the less proving the greater. A revelation is of 
Divine origin ; its proofs must be of the same character, 
in order to have the same value. Who can guarantee 
that God has spoken, unless it be God himself? (58) 

It is, therefore, impossible for a veritable revelation 
to be sustained by proofs merely subjective or rational. 
Had God sent inspired ambassadors to earth, without 
giving them other letters of credence than these, he 
would have exposed us, as if designedly, to the dreadful 
doubt whether we were listening to his voice, or to that 
of an enthusiast, an impostor, or a madman. Such a 
doubt would have been diametrically opposed to the 
object of inspiration, which can only be that of instruct- 



APPRECIATION OF PROPHECY. 219 

iiig and making certain. Consequently, every inspira- 
tion has been accompanied by objective proofs, proofs 
lying beyond the will and the reason of the inspired. 

The human mind can conceive only two proofs of this 
kind — prophecy (54) and miracles. (55) 

The ingenuity of man may be defied to imagine any 
other guarantees of an inspiration. 

It is because these guarantees are the only ones which 
the understanding and religiousness can accept as the 
basis of inspiration, that they are met with everywhere, 
wherever pretensions are made, well or ill-founded, to 
Divine inspiration. 

So far from impartial reason, or religiousness, enter- 
taining the least prejudice against this description of 
proofs, because enthusiasm has always shown itself eager 
to seize, imposture to work, or insanity to counterfeit 
them, it is an argument for their validity ; these proofs 
are the only ones given, because they are the only ones 
admissible. (56) 

CHAP. XLIX. 

APPRECIATION OF PROPHECY. 

Duration, as regards God, being merely an infinite 
moment, God has no foreknowledge, he possesses know- 
ledge ; he foresees nothing, but sees everything ; he sees 
all things at an equal distance, whilst we, through the 
prism of time, see events at very unequal distances : 
what is to foretel as regards men, is merely to tell as 
regards God. (57) 

If the foreknowledge of God is merely knowledge, if 
the transmission of ideas from God to man is possible, 
because both possess understanding, and if this transrais- 

L 2 



220 APPRECIATION OF PROPHECY. 

sion is conformable to the nature of God, who is love, 
it is easy to believe that there may be prophecies, and 
it would be inconceivable if there were not. 

But God, seeing the conscience without disguise, the 
activity, the life, and the death of every individual, whe- 
ther he makes them known beforehand or not, knows 
every thing, as well what he does not say to us as that 
which he does say, or (humanly speaking) foretels. (58) 

Whence it follows, that the question of prophecy 
adds nothing to the mystery of free will. 

Behold that tree, which grows in the midst of so 
many other trees in the forests of Judea : it will one 
day be fashioned into the form of a cross, and prepared as 
an instrument of punishment at the gates of Jerusalem. 

The event of this punishment was as well known to 
God before its period in human records, as during its 
execution, or since its occurrence. By man, whose 
thoughts are subject to the intuition of time, it could 
only be at a certain period foreknown. But whether 
God granted this previous knowledge or not, whether 
the secret was disclosed or kept, it in no respect affects 
the Divine knowledge. Whether God keeps silent or 
speaks, he equally knows. 

To ask how the perpetrators of this punishment pre- 
served their character of free agents under the re-echoing 
of prophecies, which announced their cruel injustice, is 
merely to put a form of the general question, how the 
freewill of the creature can be brought into accord with 
the knowledge of the Creator ; how the Creator can be- 
stow upon the creature his own freedom ? Prophecies, 
therefore, add nothing to the obscurity of the impene- 
trable darkness of this mystery. 

Thus the degree of clearness of the prophecies is given 






APPRECIATION OF PROPHECY, 221 

by a force of persuasion which must belong to the whole 
revelation — above doubt, below obviousness, on a level 
with certainty. (59) 

Moreover, futurity was the natural subject of reve- 
lation. Has God spoken to man or not? Do you 
admit the fact of a revelation or not ? Deny it : the 
discussion comes back again to its first elements ; the 
point in question is to refute them one by one. But 
if it is certain that God has spoken, of what would his 
spirit discourse with the spirit of man ? Of the past 
only ? It is too barren, and what would result? Of 
the present only ? It is too short, and how to stay its 
flight ? The future remained, an immense field, in 
which the thoughts of man, conducted by those of God, 
could expatiate at pleasure, and leisurely write down 
the certainties of redemption. 

Prophecies, in fact, are only thus far natural in a 
revelation, because they are indispensable to a redemp- 
tion. It has been shown, that God could not make a 
secret of the salvation destined for a world, which he 
wished to save ; that a redemption demanded a previous 
warning, and, that a redemption could never have at- 
tained its end among a race by which it was not ex- 
pected Prophecy, therefore, is an integral part of the 
plan of redemption. (60) 

Prophecies were only possible on one condition, viz., 
that the intuition of time with which the human mind 
is endowed should be so arranged as to furnish them a 
framework ; or, which comes to the same thing, that the 
human mind should be so constituted that that form of 
thought which is called prophecy might be placed beside 
the intuition of time, without doing violence to it. 

It may be said, more simply still, that prophecies 
were only possible if the human mind was endowed with 

* 3 



222 APPRECIATION OF PROPHECY. 

a capacity fitted to receive, recognise, and express 
them. 

The two modes of time are, simultaneity and suc- 
cession. 

In our mental processes, simultaneity corresponds to 
synthesis, and succession to analysis. 

In synthesis, the mind places its notions under the 
same aspect, sets them in the same framework, arranges 
them on the same plan, and renders them, so to speak, 
simultaneous. 

In analysis, the mind forms its notions into a chain, 
whose links it unites, measures, and tests by rule ; it 
makes them, as it were, defile before it, one bringing 
on the other, and renders them in some sort successive. 

Eternity is the infinite synthesis of duration ; and, 
in fact, as regards God, succession is inconceivable ; 
every thing with him is simultaneous. 

Simultaneity, as regards man, is bounded by very 
narrow limits ; it has necessarily the same boundaries 
as reason ; feeble navigator of a shoreless ocean, his 
horizon is limited by the reach of his visual organ. 

Succession is a mode much more easily comprehended 
by man than simultaneity : it is much more within the 
reach of his powers, and occupies his mind in a manner 
more conformable to the nature of his existence ; he 
there finds himself in his element ; he sets up for himself 
marks, and establishes stations of such luminous sim- 
plicity, that the slightest experience fixes them in the 
mind. These marks or stations are called the past, 
the present, and the future ; a tripartition which is 
the natural and necessary analysis of the intuition of 
time. 

Of this analysis, prophecy is but one of the articles, 
one of the forms. 

This form is at once in accord with the nature of the 



APPRECIATION OF PROPHECY. 223 

infinite mind, which does not foresee, but sees ; which 
has no recourse to an analysis of duration, because it 
possesses its whole synthesis — eternity ; but which can 
communicate an analysis, because analysis proceeds 
from synthesis. 

And in accord with the nature of the mind which 
foresees, because its intuition of time or of duration is 
necessarily successive or analytical. 

These considerations are confirmed by a very obvious 
remark, which demonstrates their justice by leading us 
to see that they are founded on the very nature of the 
human being, viz., that our intellectual, moral, and 
religious powers are naturally prospective. (61) 

The human mind is never totally destitute of forecast ; 
it never totally overlooks the future, it never arrives at 
denying it ; — why? We have just observed, because the 
intuition of time assumes, naturally, in the depths of 
our mind, the form of an analysis. 

The primitive and fundamental fact of the knowledge 
of man, the point of departure of all conviction, the 
consciousness of self, presupposes foresight. / am, has 
no value, unless we can add — i" shall be. I am is the 
present which absorbs itself, vanishes as soon as con- 
ceived ; what remains, then, without an anticipation of 
existence, without the right to say — I shall be. 

This employment of the intellectual powers, which is 
called foresight, has, like the powers themselves, undefined 
limits, such as affect the whole of our faculties ; but 
real, to such an extent that we are sensible of them 
every instant. (62) 

In what, then, does a prophecy by inspiration consist ? 
It is a simple development of rational foresight ; it is 
the barrier removed to a greater distance ; it is the field 
of view increased ; it is an instant of extended vision 

l 4 



224 APPRECIATION OF PROPHECY. 

piercing the future to a distance, to which, with the 
naked eye, human vision could never reach, 

Reason, left to itself, sees as it were some hours or 
some days into the future, confusedly and uncertainly, 
it is true ; sustained and enlightened by inspiration, 
reason sees with certainty for some years or some ages : 
the difference only consists in more or less, the same 
instrument is employed for both operations. But in the 
second, it is handled by the aid of Divine power, and so 
true is it, that the two foresights identical in essence, 
differ merely in the degree of clearness, — that inspired 
reason can find nothing more extraordinary in fore- 
seeing at a distance, than common reason in foreseeing 
what is near. (63) 

If the resemblance of the general foresight of reason, 
and the exceptional foresight of inspiration is so great, 
we must expect that the expression of them would be 
alike. 

Ordinary foresight has only one mode of being pro- 
duced and rendering itself perceptible : it transports the 
future into the present ; it supposes the future to pass 
before its eyes ; it sees it ;. it traces a lively picture of 
events ; and gives an animated history of their nature 
and succession. 

Prophetic foresight never assumes a different cha- 
racter ; all oracles are representations ; nothing is 
related — all is delineated. It is important to observe, 
that in the distance details disappear. The eye of pro- 
phecy cannot extend to minutiae ; it therefore lies in its 
nature to paint only in bold traits, to fix attention only 
upon the principal events. 

In this respect providential foresight must approxi- 
mate ordinary foresight, since the one is merely a Divine 
extension of the other ; whence, it follows, that all pro- 



THEORY OF MIRACLES. 225 

phecies in which details abound so as to overlay the 
essence will be found to be counterfeit and factitious. 
This token of sincerity or imposture may serve as a test 
of frauds. Man always deceives, or is deceived in a 
trifling way ; but truth has naturally an aspect of 
greatness. By its very nature, foresight, human or 
inspired, calls imagination to its aid. All foresight is a 
representation of that which has, as yet, no existence ; 
every representation is a work of imagination ; a pro- 
phecy, therefore, will necessarily be poetic in its form, 
and to read it too literally will be to falsify the oracle 
and misrepresent the future. 

With the present, the human mind can deal in prose ; 
of the future it speaks only in poetry. (64) 



CHAP. L. 

THEORY OF MIRACLES. 

Miracles constitute the second and last proof of inspi- 
ration, which the understanding can admit, or the 
imagination suppose. 

That of prophecy alone would be insufficient, because 
it frequently does not instruct contemporaries, and is 
addressed wholly to posterity. When a prophecy ii 
uttered, it is of no value as a guarantee of inspiration, 
till it is fulfilled. It was, therefore, necessary to unite 
to the slow and distant proof of prophecy, a present 
demonstration more specially intended to convince con- 
temporaries ; this proof is miracles. 

This proof differs essentially from that of prophecy 
for the reason just stated : the proof of prophecy is 
specially designed for future generations; the proof of 
miracles for the contemporaneous generation. 

L 5 



THEORY OF MIRACLES. 






There may undoubtedly be prophecies, which have a 
short period to run, and be accomplished during the 
lives of those to whom they have been addressed, and 
to whom, therefore, they afford sufficient evidence. (65) 
But prophecies could not be always confined within 
such narrow limits without applying to minutiae : the 
great events of the history of mankind, and especially of 
the religious history of the species, which must furnish 
the materials for prophecy, far exceed the duration of 
the life of man, in their extent, their preparations, and 
their developments. 

This remark, the justice of which is confirmed by 
history, completes the proof of the necessity of two kinds 
of guarantee — the one specially designed for contem- 
poraries, and the other for posterity. 

A miracle, in fact, is a valid proof of inspiration only 
to those who witness it. (66) To believe in inspiration 
by reason of miracles, which a man has not seen, is not 
to believe upon proof by miracles, but upon proof by 
tradition. We do not, in such a case, believe upon the 
evidence of the miracles, but in consequence of the 
assertion and account of miracles handed down by 
credible witnesses, which is something essentially dif- 
ferent. (67) 

Whence, it follows, that a miracle, in the case of every 
one who has not seen it, is merely a presumption and 
not a proof. 

The object of miracles is not to continue a faith, but 
to lay its foundations. (68) 

They offer a presumption, because, as we have seen, 
inspiration is not conceivable without miracles as its 
basis. 

Another argument presents itself in confirmation of 
this idea : — 



THEORY OF MIRACLES. 227 

u As the being, so the world" — that is, as the inha- 
bitant, so the dwelling place ; a nature is always in 
harmony with the phase of progress, which it is intended 
to subserve ; and it results from this, that a nature must 
change with afaU, that moral evil brings physical evil 
in its train, and that a race withdrawing itself from 
God, carries with it, so to speak, away from God, the 
nature which is its medium of life and progress. All the 
powers of man being deteriorated, those of nature are 
so too after their kind. Birth, life and its conditions, 
death and its concomitants, will become difficult from 
being easy ; imperfection will be double, the develop- 
ment of the powers of matter not being able to remain 
perfect, where the development of the powers of mind 
are no longer perfect. (See Book II. Chap, xxi.) 

Redemption, however, being merely the introduction, 
into the midst of fallen humanity, of a principle of 
return towards God, or of amendment, must necessarily 
put in operation in the bosom of that nature which 
humanity occupies, powers superior to those which have 
reigned there since its fall ; and, moreover, predominate 
over those which the fall has introduced. 

Whence, it follows, that miracles are merely the product 
of powers, which held dominion in nature before the 
fall, and which redemption, for a while, has brought 
back, has brought again into action, has revivified ; or 
miracles are the effect of the regenerating force of re- 
demption on the powers of nature vitiated by the fall. 

With respect to the means of progress and means of 
happiness before the fall, redemption, which is the 
antidote of the fall, awakens those latent and slumbering 
powers of nature, and makes them serve to stimulate 
progress, — return towards God. 

L G 



228 THEORY OF MIRACLES. 

And as to the vitiated powers of nature, redemption 
which is the corrective of the fall, corrects them also. 

Miracles, therefore, are an indispensable condition of 
a redemption : on the one hand they furnish a proof of 
the fact, that moral evil has produced material evil, 
and that nature carried in its bosom qualities suffi- 
ciently powerful to preserve a better organisation, and 
to spare us physical evils ; on the other, miracles attest 
the value of redemption, since they prove it to be supe- 
rior to the vitiated powers of matter. 

These remarks refute the ingenious objection brought 
against miracles, when it is said there is no connection 
between the import, Divine or not, of a system of re- 
ligious and moral teaching, and the outward act of the 
cure of a sick man, or of raising one from the dead. 
The connection lies in the power of redemption, which 
overrules all the consequences of the fall. (G9) 

These remarks, moreover, prove the erroneousness of 
the common definition of miracles, which alleges them 
to be suspensions of the laws of nature. 

This definition supposes that all the laws of nature 
are known ; far from arrogating that knowledge, who 
can tell whether this or that miracle, alleged to be a sus- 
pension of the laws known as the laws of nature, is not, 
on the contrary, the simple accomplishment of an un- 
known law ? 

The definition is incorrect; because, what we call 
laivs of nature is only a series of observations from 
which we deduce the uniformity of the phenomena ; 
who can say whether a still longer series would not have 
produced, as the effect of these powers, the very phe- 
nomenon which appears to be a suspension of them ? (70) 

The definition is finally erroneous, because the Su- 
preme ruler does not make laws in order to suspend 






THEORY OF MIRACLES. 229 

them (71) ; in other words, he does not maintain order 
by disorder ; but in the regular action of these laws, 
causes and effects are placed at intervals by much too 
great for our contracted vision always to see the con- 
nection. 

Nothing in nature more correctly represents the law 
of miracles, than that of the perturbations of the planet- 
ary system. Astronomy has proved, that the motions of 
the heavenly bodies are either retarded or accelerated, 
and the forms of their elliptical orbits more or less 
modified, in proportion as the heavenly bodies approach 
to, or are distant from one another ; and in consequence 
of the law, which determines, that bodies reciprocally 
affect each other more or less, according to their masses 
and distances. 

These perturbations, some of which only recur after 
intervals of ages, appear to be as much suspensions of 
the laws of nature — as much interruptions of the regu- 
larity of their motions — as much miracles, according to 
the definition generally admitted, as anything could 
have been. Now, since observations more closely fol- 
lowed up, and calculations more exact, have succeeded 
in explaining these perturbations, what appeared to be 
deviation and disorder, has become, in the eyes of 
modern astronomers, order and harmony. 

Thus, in reference to God, who knows all laws, and 
all their effects, there are no miracles, as there are no 
prophecies. 

There is nothing astonishing in nature having pre- 
served, after the fall, some of those better energies, 
which served to control and regulate it, and probably 
to render it sufficiently docile to the command, and 
yielding to the labour of man. Physical evil has borne 
a natural proportion to moral evil ; nature has not 



230 THEORY OF MIRACLES. 






fallen lower than humanity, which caused its deteriora- 
tion ; and, as mankind has retained some of its native 
powers, nature, too, has preserved some of its first 
faculties and beauties. 

A consideration, not less decisive of the question, 
here comes in to the aid of that just stated ; the laws 
of nature fallen into desuetude in consequence of the 
fall, and the laws of nature which remained in full 
vigour, meet and come into accordance under the em- 
pire of redemption, so as to encircle inspiration with the 
proofs necessary to its establishment. 

The fact is, that nature, before and after the fall, is 
the same nature, as humanity, whether in its original 
holiness, fallen or redeemed, is the same humanity. 
The former energies of nature in a state of slumber, 
and unknown since the commission of sin — the existing 
energies continually in operation before our eyes, and 
serving as the motive power to the phenomena of the 
life of sin, necessarily come equally in aid of redemp- 
tion, and furnish proofs of its inspired character. 

What an imposing and sublime proof of the value of 
redemption appears in this double testimony ! What, 
then, must and ought to be its regenerating power, 
since, in order to penetrate and establish itself in the 
human mind, it disposes both of the laws of nature in 
full vigour in the times of innocence, by rousing them 
into activity, and of the laws of nature fallen with man- 
kind, which it employs for our recovery ! Thus evil 
furnishes a remedy for itself. 

It is proper, therefore, to draw a distinction between 
two kinds of miracles : those which are the results of 
the powers of nature suspended by the fall, but resus- 
citated by redemption, and those which are merely the 



THEORY OF MIRACLES. 231 

effects of the powers of nature preserved or put in ac- 
tion since. 

The distinction is frequently delicate, and difficult to 
draw; and this very difficulty proves our imperfect 
knowledge of the laws of nature, whether primitive or 
actual. 

It is essential to observe, that these laws of two 
kinds, or rather of two periods, are known to us in the 
same manner, solely by the effects which we observe. 

We know less of the laws anterior to the fall, because 
the opportunity of observing their effects was more 
rare, furnished only at intervals, and in proportion to 
the wants of redemption. 

We are better acquainted with the laws actually in 
operation, because We see them constantly in action 
before our eyes, and they maintain and govern the 
nature in which we live. 

Observation is, therefore, the only means — the means 
of examination common to the two species of laws, and 
observation frequently discriminates and distinguishes 
their effects with lucid exactness. 

That an impetuous wind should drive back the 
waters of a shallow sea, and thus afford a passage on 
dry land — that a stream should gush out at the side of 
a rock — that a tempest should be suddenly lulled — 
or, that a fig tree should be withered up in a day under 
a scorching Asiatic sun — are phenomena which result 
from those natural laws which the fall has not sus- 
pended, and whose dominion has continued notwith- 
standing, and through the whole course of sin. (72) 

That one should be raised up from the dead — that 
a man born blind should instantly receive sight — 
that a desperate malady should be immediately cured — 
are effects due to the action of natural laws, whose 



232 THEORY OP MIRACLES. 

power the fall, bringing in physical evil, had paralysed 
or destroyed. (73) 

It is of little consequence that it is impossible always 
to trace with perfect exactness the line of demarcation, 
because the miraculous character of an event, or of a 
phenomenon, is always recognised by a certain sign — 
the intervention of a heavenly messenger. 

A miracle never can be absolutely direct and imme- 
diate ; there must always be intermediate instrumen- 
tality. (74) The reason is obvious. 

Miraculous events being always intended, more or 
less directly, to guarantee an inspiration, or a Divine 
mission, if they took place without mediation, if the 
heavenly ambassador, whose commission they were in- 
tended to prove, took no part in their performance, the 
miracle would fail of its purpose and end. 

It may still further be said, if a miracle is the effect 
of the primitive powers of nature, such powers being 
latent in consequence of the fall, a miracle performed 
without an active instrumentality would be simply a 
fact inexplicable, unheard of, and incomprehensible, 
without a cause or a useful purpose, which would asto- 
nish the beholders, without teaching them or proving 
anything. 

If a miracle be merely an application of the existing 
laws of nature, and performed without a mediator, it is 
nothing more than an ordinary phenomenon, an event 
without peculiarity, to which no one gives heed, and 
which merely uselessly enlarges by a line the catalogues 
of science, or the annals of history. (75) 

It is, therefore, a general rule : no miracle without a 
mediator. 

Miracles, of which the Divine messenger, who per- 
forms them in proof of his mission, is himself the 



THEORY OF MIRACLES. 233 

object> and which, as regards him, become subjective 
and personal, form no exception to the rule : although 
the object of the miracle, he is still its medium. (76) 

From the nature of miracles thus understood, it is 
easy to deduce three characteristics, which any series 
of miracles, joined to a Revelation, must present, and 
which will always serve to distinguish them from every- 
thing, either in history or science, which makes pre- 
tensions to the miraculous. 

1. It is necessary that miracles, after having served 
to prove the personal inspiration of the agents of re- 
demption, and the authors of Revelation, should form 
an intrinsic part of that Revelation ; it is necessary that 
they should be so fused into the whole, and mixed up 
with all the rest of the work, as to render it impossible 
to remove them as an excrescence, and take them alto- 
gether out of Revelation ; for this would be not merely 
to curtail it, but to reduce it to nothing, to efface and 
annihilate it. This intimate fusion, in the same his- 
tory, of the miraculous and the common elements, 
proves the truth of both. In history, pretended mi- 
racles are almost always patchwork. 

Thus, in the Gospel, parables are sometimes inserted 
consecutively, and without connection ; miracles, never. 

The value of this first token of truth arises from the 
fact, that miraculous providence being the exception, 
and ordinary providence the rule, they nevertheless 
proceed perfectly in accord ; or, to speak more cor- 
rectly, they constitute only one and the same provi- 
dence. Miracles which should merely form so many 
separate chapters, an excrescence or appendix, are fables 
which betray themselves. (77) 

2. Miracles having the value of proofs to those only 
who witness them, it follows that they must be con- 



£34 THEORY OF MIRACLES. 






formable to the spirit of the times, and selected ac- 
cording to the general reach of the contemporaneous 
generation, — be more material in an ignorant and bar- 
barous age, more spiritual in an intellectual and polished 
one, and even in their details of execution directed 
against the errors, the impostures, and iniquities of the 
age in which they are performed. (78) 

3. As inspiration respects the freedom of the will, 
as the degrees of clearness of prophecy were calculated 
to leave morality and religiousness free, so in the same 
manner the frequency, greatness, and publicity of miracles, 
have always been measured by the care of God, so as 
not to deprive man of his freedom, and not to extinguish 
our sacred responsibility. (79) 

A concluding reflection is necessary for the confirma- 
tion of the preceding thoughts, and the refutation of an 
objection which they appear to suggest. 

The intimate bond between inspiration and miracles 
is so natural, that ecstasy which counterfeits inspiration, 
and on this point often deceives itself, does not fail to 
counterfeit miracles and to produce extraordinary effects, 
which lie out of and beyond the ordinary course of events. 
That is, in reality, miracles of both kinds are only a 
power exercised by mind over matter. It is easy from 
this to understand, that ecstasy may usurp a portion of 
this dominion ; only, such dominion, solely human, 
becomes then merely anarchy, and its efforts end in 
nothing. 

The whole of our theory of miracles is confirmed by 
a historical remark of great value ; they belong by their 
very nature to a period of particularism, because the 
theocracy, that is to say, inspiration in action, required 
them as its proof; thus, before Abraham, and above all, 
before Moses, there were no miracles, properly so 
called. 



REDEMPTION ACCOMPLISHED BY A HUMAN LIFE. 235 



CHAP. LI. 

REDEMPTION ACCOMPLISHED BY A HUMAN LIFE. 

The accomplishment of redemption offers no difficulty 
to subjective Christianity. This accomplishment neces- 
sarily abounded in miracles, as the definition of re- 
demption and the conclusions drawn from our solution 
of the problem prove. Our theory of miracles is in all 
respects applicable to the facts of our redemption con- 
sidered under the aspect of a human life and the 
ensemble, the exterior apparatus of human salvation, the 
events which constitute its history, appear to be the 
necessary products of the age, the country, the people, 
the entire world, of the moment. 

The objective of redemption, the historical facts which 
constitute it, could only be given by the subjective of 
the period of its realisation, the state of manners, minds, 
and religions. 

The accomplishment of redemption must, as has 
been said, have consisted in a complete human life. 

Considered from the point of view of religiousness, 
the facts of this life possess a supreme interest and make 
an immeasurably deep impression (80) ; they form a 
biography which must remain for ever unique among 
earthly biographies, and which perfectly corresponds to 
the three conditions required by redemption. 

First, to unveil an Emanuel to the religious 
powers. (81) 

Under this character, the Redeemer manifested himself 
neither too much nor too little (82), sometimes only, and 



236 REDEMPTION ACCOMPLISHED 






only enough to justify us in following him with confi- 
dence, in seeing him restoring the work of a creation. 
(See Book III, Chap, xxx.) 

The second condition fulfilled by the human life of 
our Redeemer, was that of showing himself to be our 
brother ; under this character he always appeared ; and, 
if there were moments when he seemed to divest himself 
of it, he only quitted in order immediately to resume 
his character as our brother. (83) 

Christ remained a much longer time upon Calvary 
than upon Mount Tabor. 

The third condition, which followed from the union 
of the two preceding, from the Divine and human 
element, was that of realising the ideal of human per- 
fection. (84) 

Our united faculties, following out the ideal with all 
the intensity which they can throw into the research, 
can attain no higher, can arrive at nothing beyond. 
And to crown the wonder, it is a perfection level to our 
capacities, it is an ideal within our reach ; it is the infi- 
nite brought down to our standard, so realised that we 
can easily comprehend it, and still more undertake to 
imitate it (85), so natural is it to us to imitate God; 
and the imitation of Christ, is nothing but the imitation 
of God brought near to us. (86) 

Here, an intimate and remarkable agreement between 
reason and Revelation presents itself : as the idea of God, 
proves God, so the idea of Christ, proves Christ ; for if 
the abstract ideal of humanity is not above our power 
of finding out, the realised ideal of humanity surpasses it. 
Still more : it is possible without a great effort to 
imagine a perfect man in the midst of imaginary cir- 
cumstances, which are created in some measure to 
complete the notion of this perfection ; before Christ, 



BY A HUMAN LIFE. 237 

however, it was impossible to imagine a perfect man in 
the actual realities of life. 

Considered according to our theory, the very circum- 
stances in whieh tins perfection was manifested were 
indifferent, for this plain reason, that in other circum- 
stances this perfection would have been equally dis- 
played ; it did not depend upon circumstances : it was 
not brought about by circumstances ; it was not the 
manger which produced humility, nor the cross which 
sanctified the sacrifice. This perfection was superior to 
accidents, which only furnished the opportunity, the 
frame and not the picture. (87) 

A human life and a human death having devolved 
upon him, the Christ would always have found means of 
making it perfect. 



238 



NOTES TO BOOK IV. 



(1) This idea, and the terms which express it, are in accord- 
ance both with the sense and language of the Gospel. 

f e For we (Christians), are his workmanship, created in Christ 
Jesus unto good works." Eph. ii. 10. " . . If any man be in 
Christ, he is a new creature." 2 Cor. v. 17. "And be renewed 
(as Christ taught you), in the spirit of your mind ; and that ye 
put on the new man, which after Godj is created in righteousness 
and true holiness." Eph. iv. 23, 24. And Jesus said : " Except 
a man be born again, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." 
John, iii. 3. 

(2) . . . " The only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of 
the Father. . ." John, i. 18. " Who (the Son) being the bright- 
ness of his glory, and the express image of his person. . ." Heb. 
i. 3. Ci Christ, who is the image of God." 2 Cor. iv. 4. " . . . 
the image of the invisible God. . ." Col. i. 15. Consequently, 
" whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father ; " 
that is, knoweth not the Father so as to be united to him ; " but 
he that acknowledgeth the Son, hath the Father also." 1 John, 
ii. 23. And consequently, again, Jesus was entitled so nearly to 
assimilate the faith due to God and that which he himself required, 
as to say to his apostles, " Ye believe in God, believe also in me." 
John, xiv. 1. (See Book I. Chap. x. note 39, and Chap. xm. 
note 51 ; Book IV. Chap. xli. notes 2, and 51, 84, and 85.) 

(3) " No man hath seen God at any time ; the only begotten 
son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him/' 
John, i. 18. " He that hath seen me," said Jesus, Ci hath seen 
the Father." xiv. 9. " . . . You, who by him, (by Christ, that 
is, by his doctrine,) do believe in God," and know him better than 
by the law or by reason. 1 Peter, i. 21. u For who hath known 
the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him ? But we have 
(we know) the mind of Christ." 1 Cor. ii. 16. 

(4) " Thou hast granted me life and favour, and thy visitation 
hath preserved my spirit." Job, x. 12. " In whose hand is the 



NOTES TO BOOK IV. 239 

soul of every living thing." xii. 10. Moreover, God directs our 
destiny : " O Lord, I know that the way of man is not in him- 
self : it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps." Jer. x. 23. 

(5) It is this providence which is the ground of the titles 
given to the Almighty in the sacred writings : " the faithful God," 
Deut. vii. 9.; "a. faithful Creator." 1 Pet. iv. 19. It was this 
providence which gave to the Hehrews in the desert " an heart to 
perceive, and eyes to see, and ears to hear." Deut. xxix. 4. It 
was this providence of which Joseph spoke to his brethren : " Ye 
thought evil against me ; but God meant it unto good," Gen. 1. 
20 ; and Jesus to Pilate : " Thou couldst have no power at all 
against me, except it were given thee from above." John, xix. 11. 
It is this providence which, ever attentive to the interests of truth 
and to the rights of virtue, takes care that men shall be able to 
" do nothing against the truth ; " 2 Cor. xiii. 8 ; and that no 
man shall be " tempted above that he is able; " 1 Cor. x. 13 ; 
because that God " knoweth our frame, he remembereth that we 
are dust." Ps. ciii. 14. It is this providence to which allusion is 
made in the promise: "A bruised reed shall he not break, and 
smoking flax shall he not quench . . ." Matt. xii. 20. And, 
lastly, it was this providence which, when Paul had Ci planted," and 
Apollos watered, " gave the increase ; " 1 Cor. iii. 6. ; and " which 
worketh in us both to will and to do of his good pleasure." 
Phil. ii. 13. The distribution of the gifts, and the constant aids 
of this religious providence of God, give every Christian reason to 
say : " By the grace of God I am what I am." 1 Cor. xv. 1 0. 
St. Paul shows us what confidence we ought to have in the care 
which it takes of our souls, when he says : ' ' He that spared not 
his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not 
with him also freely give us all things? " "All things" — that is, ac- 
cording to the connection of ideas, all things which we need in 
order to obtain salvation. Rom. viii. 32. He expresses the same 
wish with admirable conciseness at the conclusion of his epistle to 
Titus : " Grace be with you all." Titus, iii. 15. 

(6.) " Day unto day uttereth speech (of the glory of God), and 
night unto night showeth knowledge." Ps. xix. 2. ff He hath 
also established them (the heavens) for ever and ever : he hath 
made a decree which shall not pass." cxlviii. 6. 

(7.) This application of the spiritual providence of God is 
expressed in the Scriptures by the simple and touching image, 
frequently repeated: "God remembered his covenant. And 
God heard their groaning (the groaning of Israel in bondage), 
and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, 
and with Jacob." God promised to remember it even when his 



240 NOTES TO BOOK IV. 

rebellious and idolatrous people should be carried into captivity 
" in the land of their enemies." This confidence in Jehovah's 
promises, which Moses confirmed at the close of his career, Deut. 
vii. 9., was so thoroughly the basis of the faith of the Hebrews in 
the prerogatives and obligations of their race, that the solemn 
prayer on the dedication of the temple opens with its declaration : 
"Lord God of Israel . . . who keepest covenant and mercy with 
thy servants that walk before thee with all their heart. . . . " 
1 Kings, viii. 23 ; 2 Chron. vi. 14. The same idea frequently 
occurs in the Bible, even during the time of the Judges, the least 
religious epoch in the sacred annals ; Judges, ii. 1 ; in the 
Psalms, cv. 8 ; cvi. 4>5 ; cxi. 5 ; in Isaiah, liv. 10 ; in Jeremiah, 
xiv. 21 ; in Ezekiel, xvi. 60. During the most calamitous 
periods, it is said, that God (f had compassion '* on Israel " be- 
cause of his covenant with Abraham/' 2 Kings, xiii. 23. After 
the captivity, in the prayers pronounced at the solemnities of the 
restoration of Israel, it is said : " Thou gavest also thy good 
Spirit to instruct them " (our fathers). Neh. ix. 20. And at the 
very commencement of the Gospel the idea reappears, in one of 
the first songs of praise which it inspires : " Blessed be the Lord 
God of Israel," said Zacharias ; " for he hath visited and re- 
deemed his people To perform the mercy promised to our 

fathers, and to remember his holy covenant." Luke, i. 68 — 72. 

(8.) The beginning of the epistle to the Hebrews expresses 
this idea in a remarkable manner : " God, who spake in times 
past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days 
spoken unto us by his Son." Heb. i. 1. St. Paul here admits, 
in the most explicit manner, that the same Divine system was fol- 
lowed in alT Revelations ; God revealing himself, but revealing 
himself through an intermediate agent ; and the same word is 
employed to express the Divine act, whether this agent is the 
voice of the prophets or that of the Saviour. 

(9-) " And the Lord spake unto Moses face to face, as a man 
speaketh unto his friend ; and he said, I will make all my good- 
ness pass before thee." Ex. xxxiii. 11 — 19; Numb. xii. 8. 
Those who believe are those in whom Providence so truly con- 
fides, that the greatest favours are showered on them by this 
benediction : " Go thy way, and as thou hast believed, so be it 
done unto thee." Matt. viii. 13. "And we have known and 
believed the love that God hath to us." 1 John, iv. 16. 

(10.) The Bible only contains one passage in which the dis- 
tinction is drawn in a positive manner, by the sacred author 
himself, who could only thus draw it for himself, because each 
intelligence has its own measure. In the course of his discussion 



NOTES TO BOOK IV. 241 

on celibacy and marriage, St. Paul says : " And unto the married 
I command, yet not I, but the Lord, let not the wife depart from 
her husband. . . But to the rest (that is, to men or women 
married to unconverted Gentiles) speak I, not the Lord. If any 
brother hath a wife that believeth not and she be pleased to dwell 
with him, let him not put her away. And the woman which 
hath an husband that believeth not, and if he be pleased to dwell 
with her, let her not leave him." 1 Cor. vii. 10. 12, 13. And 
again, he says : " Now concerning virgins I have no command- 
ment of the Lord : yet I give my judgment, as one that hath 
obtained mercy of the Lord to be faithful." vii. 25. These 
texts have no meaning if they do not express those shades which, 
as the very nature of things indicates, must be found in revela- 
tion, St. Paul here distinguishes between a special and positive 
revelation, which he transmits from the Lord, and a counsel which 
he gives on his own responsibility ; relying, in addition, on the 
confidence which should be inspired by his ministry. This dis- 
tinction is the more decisive and worthy of attention from the 
pen of St. Paul, as in the same epistle he says, on the subject of 
the Lord's Supper, " For I have received of the Lord that which 
also I delivered unto you." xi- 23. At the same time the apostle, 
in confessing that the spirit of God had not revealed everything 
to him, did not consider that he at all invalidated his preaching 
and doctrine, and said to the Galatians : " For 1 neither received 
it (the Gospel) of man, neither was I taught it, but by the reve- 
lation of Jesus Christ." Gal. i. 12. 

The same conclusions may be deduced from the fact, that the 
assistance of the Spirit of God granted to the Divine messengers, 
was neither as continuous nor as prompt and comprehensive as 
they desired, as we see from the example, under Moses, of the 
elders of Israel, Numb. xi. 25 ; from that of Nathan, who gave 
David permission to build the temple, 2 Sam. vii. 3 ; of Elisha, 
from whom "the Lord had hid" the sorrow of the Shunamite, 
2 Kings, iv. 27 ; of Jeremiah, who waited "ten days" for an 
answer from the Lord, Jer. xlii. 7 ; and of St. Paul himself, 
who said to the elders of Ephesus, " And now, behold, I go 
bound in the spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that 
shall befall me there." Acts, xx. 22. 

The celebrated terms of the decision pronounced by the as- 
sembly of apostles and elders held at Jerusalem, for the purpose 
of definitively separating Judaism and Christianity — terms of 
which such a foolish and rash abuse was afterwards made — "it 
seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us," Acts, xv. 28, are 

M 



242 NOTES TO BOOK IV. 

evidently the language of men obeying the inspirations of Divine 
intelligence, without laying aside their intellectual individuality. 

The whole question is summed up in one very remarkable idea 
of St. Paul's : when the great apostle of the Gentiles desires to 
give some conception of the fruitful and necessary union of the 
activity of the Creator and that of his creatures, he says, in 
speaking of the labours of his mission : " We are labourers toge- 
ther with God." 1 Cor. iii. 9. This expression, so sublime at 
once in its simplicity and in its energy, is as justly applicable to 
the promulgation of revelation as to the labours of the sacred 
ministry. 

( 1 1.) This is the idea of Amos ; he has just been reproaching 
the Israelites for desiring to put to silence the prophets who 
displeased them : iC Ye commanded the prophets, saying, prophesy 
not." Amos, ii. 12. And, in order to show the vanity and impiety 
of this opposition, he adds : " Can two walk together except they 
be agreed ? " iii. 3 ; that is, must not those who are proceeding 
towards the same end, by the same path, understand and be 
agreed with each other ? And in the same manner, must not 
the prophets, in order to speak, be in accordance with God, who 
sends and inspires them ? 

(12.) The God of truth "cannot lie," Titus, i. 2 ; and to 
make God lie, if we may so speak, to feign inspiration, and make 
God responsible for what he had not inspired, was, under the 
theocratic legislation, the greatest religious crime, and one pu- 
nishable by death : " But the prophet which shall presume to 
speak a word in my name which 1 have not commanded him to 
speak . . . even that prophet shall die." Deut. xviii. 20. And 
Providence frequently executed the sentence. " Therefore, thus 
saith the Lord," said Jeremiah to the false prophet Hananiah, 
" Behold, I will cast thee from off the face of the earth : this 
year thou shalt die." Jer. xxviii. l6. 

(13.) " The Spirit (the Spirit of God) itself," says St. Paul, 
"beareth witness with our spirit ..." Rom. viii. 16. And St. John, 
when inculcating the old commandment, renewed by Christ, of 
charity or love, adds : " Which thing (the commandment) is true 
in him (according to Christ, as taught by him) and in you (ac- 
cording to you) ; because the darkness is past, and the true light 
now shineth." 1 John, ii. 8. This action of the spirit of God 
upon the spirit of man, this mysterious harmony between Supreme 
intelligence and created intelligence, is attested by Jesus himself ; 
who, when quoting to the Scribes what the Psalmist had written 
concerning his Divine glory, and wishing to remind his wicked 
hearers of the authority of the Psalmist's expression, makes use 



NOTES TO BOOK IV. 243 

of these words : " David himself said by the Holy Ghost/' or 

" in spirit " Mark, xii. 36 ; Matt. xxii. 43. Of the first 

two texts above quoted, that of St. Paul admits of no doubt, and 
clearly expresses the idea of an intellectual communion between 
God and man ; that of St. John has been very variously trans- 
lated ; the version here adopted is one which does no violence to 
the original, and which is, moreover, in perfect accordance with 
the context. 

(14.) Revelation is a blessing, a nourishment to the soul as 
necessary to the real life of man as his daily bread to his physical 
life, an ever-flowing fountain of consolation and joy. " The law 
of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul . . . the statutes of the 
Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. . . . More to be desired are 
they than gold, yea, than much fine gold ; sweeter, also, than 
honey, and the honeycomb. Moreover, by them is thy servant 
warned." Ps. xix. 7 — 11- And St. John, in his first epistle, 
the prologue to his Gospel, says to the churches : " And these 
tilings write we unto you, that our (your) joy may be full." 
1 John, i. 4. 

(15.) The faculties were sufficient before the entrance of sin ; 
but we have seen that the intellectual tendency, with the moral 
and religious tendencies, became vitiated to such an extent, that 
Jesus could say : " I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and 
earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and pru- 
dent, and hast revealed them unto babes." Matt. xi. 25. Isaiah 
wrote, and St. Paul repeated, this word of judgment : " I will 
destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the 
understanding of the prudent." Isaiah, xxix. 14. 1 Cor. i. Q. 

The solemnity of this prayer of Christ, and the weight which 
St. Paul attaches to his declaration, would surprise us, did we not 
conceive the whole meaning and tendency of these passages. 
They do not express a denial of the excellence of reason, or the 
least abrogation of its rights. They contain two ideas, which it 
is important not to disconnect. Man is an intellectual being ; 
but if he gives to his reason an exclusive pre-eminence over his 
other faculties, he loses himself, and, far from fulfilling the aim 
of his existence, entirely falls short of it ; for his conscience and 
his religious tendency are faculties of an order superior even to 
his intelligence ; virtue and religion are of greater value than 
knowledge. On the other hand, the use of reason, like that of 
all our tendencies, is free ; and when man departs from virtue, 
and above all when he departs from religion, he does so by the 
aid of a perverse use of reason, which in this case employs itself 
in justifying passions and veiling truths. We can, therefore, 

M 2 



244 NOTES TO BOOK IV. 

understand why Christ should bless God, that redemption is com- 
municated to us through the heart much more than through the 
mind, and that children, that is, simple-minded and sincere men, 
receive and understand what escapes the wise and the learned ; 
we can understand, that the wisdom, the knowledge, of which 
St. Paul declares the worthlessness, is that which removes us 
from God, from whom all true wisdom emanates. 

(l6.) " The law T " (revealed law), says St. Paul, "is not made 
for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient." 1 
Tim. i. 9- " For the law was given by Moses, but grace (that 
of salvation), and truth (definitive truth) came by Jesus Christ." 
John, i. 17. " For after that, in the wisdom of God, the world 
by wisdom knew not God (in the works of Divine wisdom), it 
pleased God by the (pretended) foolishness of preaching (the 
preacliing of Christ crucified) to save them that believe." 1 Cor. 
i. 21. 

(17-) "For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who 
hath been his counsellor ? " Rom. xi. 34. " With whom took 
he counsel, and who instructed him. . . .?" Isaiah, xl. 14. 
" . . . the things of God knoweth no man, but the spirit of 
God." 1 Cor. ii. 11. 

(18.) "For God, who commanded the light to shine out of 
darkness, hath shined in our hearts. ..." 2 Cor. iv. 6. 

(19-) That death is nothing real, especially in the eyes of 
God, is the idea of Christ himself, when he says, in speaking of 
the dead, — "all live unto him." Luke, xx. 38. (See Book I. 
Chap. xvi. ; and Book II. Chap, xxni.) 

(20.) Examples abound under both covenants ; these formed, 
so to speak, the natural way of communicating supernatural 
lessons. " In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep 
falleth upon men, in slumberings upon the bed ; then he openeth 
the ears of men, and sealeth their instruction." Job, xxxiii. 

15, 16. " The Lord said, if there be a prophet among you, I, 
the Lord, will make myself known unto him in a vision, and will 
speak unto him in a dream." Numb. xii. 6. The dreams of 
revelation, refused in times of perversity, as a sign of anger, 
1 Sam. xxviii. 6, were, however, notwithstanding their frequency, 
a great mark of Divine favour. " Your old men shall dream 
dreams, your young men shall see visions ; " Joel, ii. 28. ; a 
promise of an abundant effusion of spiritual enlightenment, which 
St. Peter applies to the commencement of Christianity. Acts, ii. 

1 6. " The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream 
(faithfully) ; and he that hath my word, let him speak my word 
faithfully . . . saith the Lord." Jer. xxiii. 28. This fidelity 



NOTES TO BOOK IV. 215 

was the more indispensable, as the law of Moses punished with 
death the impostor who pretended to have received revelations in 
dreams, Deut. xiii. 5 ; and, as the Israelites were well aware that 
nothing was to be concluded from ordinary dreams. " As a 
dream when one awaketh ; so, O Lord, thou shalt despise their 
image." Ps. lxxiii. " For in the multitude of dreams, and 
many words, there are also divers vanities." Ecc. v. 7« (See 
Book II. Chap. xxvi. note 50.) 

(2 J.) All that we have said in the preceding note on the states 
of sleep and dreaming, as times and means propitious to commu- 
nication between the spirit of God and that of man, is applicable, 
also, to the states of vision and ecstasy, frequent examples of 
which are to be met with both in the Old Testament and in the 
Gospel. To so great an extent was this the case, indeed, that the 
word vision was sometimes used to designate either religion itself, 
or Divine revelations in general. The idea of Divine visions 
brought with it that of light. " Therefore night shall be unto 
you, that ye shall not have a vision ; and it shall be dark unto 
you, that ye shall not divine/* Micah, iii. 6. And the impres- 
sion made by them on the mind, was so distinct and vivid as to 
be equivalent to a definite command. te Whereupon, O King 
Agrippa," says St. Paul, '-' I was not disobedient unto the hea- 
venly vision." Acts, xxvi. 19. It is evident that these visions 
were purely subjective, and unaccompanied by any outward phe- 
nomena, since the person to whom they were sent sometimes 
received them in a public place, and in the midst of a crowd. 
" . . . While I prayed in the temple,'' says St. Paul again, " I 
was in a trance, and saw him (Jesus). ..." Acts, xxii. 17; 
sometimes in a private, retired place, as St. Peter received the 
memorable vision of the calling of the Gentiles. Acts, x. 10. 
(See Book II. Chap. xxvm. note 53.) 

(22.) Inspiration is sometimes declared in the Scripture with- 
out the slightest indication being given as to the manner in which 
it took place ; and this to so great a degree, that the prophet 
employs a physical image to express the inward effect which he 
experienced. " Then the Lord put forth his hand, and touched 
my mouth ; and the Lord said unto me, Behold, I have put 
my words in thy mouth." Jer. i. 9- Jesus simply says to his 
apostles — " For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your 
Father which speaketh in you.'' Matt. x. 20. Sometimes in- 
spiration is represented under the form of a conversation with 
God ; and this means appears to have been the most elevated and 
intimate system of communication between God and man. " With 
him (Moses) will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and 

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246 NOTES TO BOOK IV. 

not in dark speeches ; " without vision and without dream. 
Numb. xii. 8. The revelations received by Abraham have the 
same character of intimate communion. Gen. xviii. 33. 

It is important to remark, that these ways followed by inspira- 
tion for the purpose of reaching the human mind, although in 
perfect harmony with human nature, in no respect weakened the 
vivid and profound impression always felt by those inspired. An 
impression of sanctity : 'Tut off thy shoes from thy feet/' said 
the Divine voice to Moses ; " for the place whereon thou standest 
is holy ground." Ex. iii. 5. A feeling of terror : " Then 
Moses trembled, and durst not behold." Acts, vii. 32. A sen- 
sation of powerlessness and un worthiness : i( Woe is me ! " said 
Isaiah, "for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips. 
. . . Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal 
in his hand, which he had taken from off the altar ; and he laid 
it upon my mouth, and said, . . . Thine iniquity is taken away." 
Isaiah, vi. 5, 6, 7. " Then said I, Ah, Lord God ! behold, I 
cannot speak ; for I am a child." Jer. i. 6. A sense of the 
greatness of these missions : " Thou hast asked a hard thing," 
2 Kings, ii. 10, replied Elijah to Elisha, who, in his humility, 
solicited a double portion of the spirit granted to his master. 
And, lastly, a feeling of deep humility, which no one has ex- 
pressed better than St. Paul : " And, last of all, he was seen of 
me also, as of one born out of due time." 1 Cor. xv. 8. 

(23.) The religious tendency, faith, is so entirely free, that 
even that of the inspired men was so, and in no way interfered 
with their morality in the employment of the extraordinary gifts 
with which they were endowed : " The spirits of the prophets," 
says St. Paul, " are subject to the prophets." 1 Cor. xiv. 32. 
He who had the gift of " prophecy," that is, of inspired preach- 
ing, made use of it " according to the proportion of faith " (of 
his faith). Rom. xii. 6. It is, then, with inspiration as with 
theocracy ; the former leaves man free in his individuality ; the 
latter leaves to a nation its liberty in some sort collective ; Hosea 
said to his fellow-countrymen — fe O Israel, thou hast destroyed 
thyself ! " or, more correctly, " Israel ! thou art thyself thy 
corruption." Hosea, xiii. 9- It was necessary that the human 
mind should be free, according to St. Paul's expression, to " re- 
sist the truth." 2 Tim. iii. 8. (See Book I. Chap. iv. note 10, 
and Chap. xi. note 45 ; Book III. Chap. xxx. note 10; Book 
IV. Chap. xlix. note 59-) 

(24.) "... he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea, driven 
with the wind, and tossed." James, i. 6. And that doubt and 
scruples may present themselves in a question of religious mo- 



NOTES TO BOOK IV. 247 

rality, St. Paul so explicitly acknowledges; as to require that in such 
cases the scruple should be obeyed : " And he that doubteth," 
with regard to any species of food interdicted by the Mosaic law, 
" is damned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith/' does not 
act according to his conviction. Rom. xiv. 23. 

(25.) This is the positive sense^ of St. Luke's declaration at 
the commencement of his Gospel. " Forasmuch as many have 
taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things 
which are most surely believed among us, even as they delivered 
them unto us, which from the beginning were eye-witnesses, and 
ministers of the word ; it seemed good to me, also, having had 
perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write 
unto thee in order, most excellent Theophilus, that thou mightest 
know (judge of) the certainty of those things wherein thou hast 
been instructed.'' Luke, i. 1 — 4. To say that the Christian 
religion is only certain, is to say, in other terms, that we " walk 
by faith, not by sight; " faith, is certainty ; sight, is obviousness. 
2 Cor. v. 7. And so true is this principle, that Christian hope 
holds in our minds the same position as Christian faith : " . . . 
hope that is seen is not hope : for what a man seeth, why doth 
he yet hope for ? ... we hope for that we see not. ..." Rom. 
viii. 25. " This is a faithful saying" (a certain doctrine), writes 
St. Paul to Titus, "and these things I will that thou affirm 
(preach) constantly. ..." Titus, iii. 8. What is obvious is not 
preached; and he himself began his career by endeavouring to 
" destroy the faith;" Gal. i. 23; obviousness cannot be destroyed. 
Again, he wrote to the Romans : " The word is nigh thee, 
even in thy mouth, and in thy heart." Rom. x. 8. That- is, 
thou canst easily recognise its certainty, diffuse it by thy discourse, 
and profess it in thine heart. 

(26.) It is well said, that " faith is the evidence of things not 
seen," Heb. xi. 1 ; but it is a personal evidence, not to be com- 
municated, entirely subjective, and which has nothing in common 
with rational evidence. Faith " uproots fig-trees and removes 
mountains;" that is, it is the most fruitful and strongest principle 
of energy ; but it can only effect these great works, Christ has 
declared, if the believer has no " doubt in his heart." Mark, xi. 
23. " Examine yourselves whether ye be in the faith " (have 
faith). 2 Cor. xiii. 5. Obviousness, in religion, is reserved. (See 
Book VI. Chap. lxxv. note 93.) 

(27.) We find proofs everywhere throughout the Gospel, that 

Jesus constantly appealed to the certainty of his Divine mission, 

which man might find in his own reason and conscience : (i And 

he said also to the people, When ye see a cloud rise out of the 

m 4 



248 NOTES TO BOOK IV. 

west, straightway ye say, There cometh a shower ; and so it is. 
And when ye see the south wind blow, ye say, There will be 
heat ; and it cometh to pass. Ye hypocrites, ye can discern the 
face of the sky, and of the earth ; but how is it that ye do not 
discern this time? Yea, and why even of yourselves judge ye 
not what is right ? " Luke, xii. 54 — 57. Again, " faith cometh 
by hearing." Rom. x. 17. 

In the facts which constitute the Christian religion, everything 
was so directed by Providence, that its credibility should reach to 
certainty, without going beyond it. " Him God raised up the 
third day, and showed him openly ; not to all the people, but 
unto witnesses chosen before of God," Acts, x. 40, 41. 

This passage is extremely remarkable : it has been asked, why 
Jesus, when risen from the dead, did not show himself at Jeru- 
salem, in the public places, in the temple and the judgment-hall, 
to the Sanhedrim, and to the people ? Had he done so, the 
Jews would have been more eager than ever to " take him by force 
to make him a king," John. vi. 15; a revolution would have 
burst forth, and the people would have accepted a temporal and 
earthly redemption," precisely because, instead of believing, it would 
have had the evidence of sight ; because redemption would have 
become a matter of sight, instead of faith. But no ; all the 
guarantees of Christianity, and even the appearances of the risen 
Jesus, stop at a point at which man, in a spirit of humble sin- 
cerity, can say: i( Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief :" 
Mark, ix. 24 ; " Increase our faith." Luke, xvii. 5. And who 
has not had in his religious life painful hours of inward struggle, 
in which the voice of " the finisher of our faith/' Heb. xii. 2, 
might justly have said to him : " O thou of little faith, wherefore 
didst thou dcubt ? " Matt. xiv. 31. 

(28.) " All Scripture given by inspiration of God (see Book V. 
Chap. lx. note 51.), is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for 
correction, for instruction in righteousness ; that the man of God 
may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works." 
2 Tim. iii. l6', 17. "For whatsoever things were written afore- 
time, were written for our learning ; that we, through patience 
and comfort of the Scriptures, might have hope." Rom. xv. 4. 
" Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not 

lust after evil things, as they (the Jews) also lusted Now 

ail these things happened unto them for ensamples ; and they 
are written for our admonition. . . ." 1 Cor. x. 6 — 11. "Take, my 
brethren, the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the 
Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience." 
James, v. 10. 



NOTES TO BOOK IV. 249 

(29.) God desires, on the contrary, that human reason should 
continue its course of study, if we may so speak, to the end. (See 
Book I. Chap. 11. note 3.) So little was it the aim and effect of 
inspiration to repress, put aside, or supply the place of reason, 
whether in general missions, such as those of Moses and of St. 
Paul, or in special prophecies, that the Bible everywhere shows 
us reason acting for itself, under the direction and safeguard of 
inspiration. We know from the Bible itself, that Moses, the 
adopted son of the sovereigns of Egypt, was " learned in all the 
wisdom of the Egyptians,'* Acts, vii. 22 ; compared, even in the 
Bible, to that of Solomon, 1 Kings, iv. 30 ; can it be imagined, 
that this education, this wisdom, was useless to him in his work 
as the guide and legislator of the people of God ? To refuse to 
recognise the Egyptian element in many of the Mosaic institutions, 
would be to shut our eyes against the light. St. Paul had been 
the pagan scholar of the schools of Tarsus, and the Jewish scholar 
of the schools of Jerusalem, and his ministry differs from that of 
all his colleagues, especially in the circumstance, that in him the 
inspired man never effaces the scholar; versed in the Jewish 
learning of the age, skilful in " showing by the Scriptures that 
Jesus was the Christ," Acts, xviii. ; and, a Gentile with the Gentiles 
after having been a Jew with the Jews ; versed also in the knowledge 
of the Greek philosophers and poets, from whom he quotes. Acts, 
xvii, 28. ; 1 Cor. xv. 33 ; Titus, i. 12. Was it Divine inspi- 
ration which suggested to him quotations from Aratus, Menander, 
and Epimenides ? 

And that reason continued its habitual efforts of penetration 
when the question related to special prophecies, even the most 
important ones, those announcing the Messiah, St. Peter declares : 
st Of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched dili- 
gently, who phophesied of the grace that should come unto you : 
searching what, or what manner of time, the spirit of Christ which 
was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings 
of Christ, and the glory that should follow." 1 Peter, i. 10, 11. 
Sometimes, in the most personal revelations, so to speak, the 
prophets did not immediately comprehend the Divine intention, 
and had need of reflection. Thus, the first revelations addressed 
to the youthful Samuel, presented themselves so confusedly before 
his mind, that in the tumult of his ideas, he twice believed himself 
called by Eli, the high priest : " Samuel," it is said, " did not yet 
know the Lord" (the voice of the Lord). 1 Sam. iii. 7- His 
extreme youth explains this trouble of his soul : but Jeremiah, at 
a riper age, did not at first understand why he was to buy a field 
occupied by the Chaldean armies, as the Roman did that on which 

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250 NOTES TO BOOK IV. 



Hannibal was encamped : but he soon " knew that this was the 
word of the Lord." Jer. xxxii. 8, 30. Gen. Chap, i and ii. 
The evident intention of Moses in these descriptions of the crea- 
tion, and, indeed, throughout the whole book of Genesis, is exclu- 
sively religious ; it is not scientific. He wishes to show, that 
there exists one God alone, the Creator of all things ; that all 
idolatry, from the worship of the stars down to the grossest 
Fetichism, is a folly and a crime; that the true God made him- 
self known to mankind from their first existence ; that evil cannot 
be attributed to him, but to man, a principle which overthows 
all adoration of malevolent gods ; that the first man, and especially 
the ancestors of the Jews, knew and adored one only living and 
true God ; and thus he carries on his narrative to particulars, to 
the calling of Abraham, to the choice of the posterity of the 
patriarchs as the especial guardians of religious truth, and of the 
promise of the Messiah. There is no page of Scripture which 
more strikingly presents to our view the simultaneousness of action 
between intelligence, left, as much as neeessary, to its own strength, 
and inspiration coining, as much as necessary, to its aid, than 
the cosmogony at its very beginning : this cosmogony is at once 
inspired, and founded on the ancient principle of the system of 
the world, the error of which is now fully recognised ; it is 
inspired, not, doubtless, in the details, but in general, when it fixes 
the order of the geological epochs, shows us the earth at first 
without organised bodies, and without animated beings, then 
serving as a theatre for various developments of vegetable and 
animal life, and at length, at the most recent epoch, made a 
dwelling-place for man, the crowning-work of this world, the 
youngest of God's creatures on earth : it is not inspired, it speaks 
according to the science of the time, when, for example, it adopts 
the idea that the earth is the centre of the world, and that the 
stars exist for its use. Gen. i. 14. It was impossible (and this 
has been acknowledged by the greatest naturalist of the age), 
that Moses should, without assistance, have divined the order of 
the geological epochs ; and it was also impossible that God 
should have inspired, word by word, and idea by idea, a cosmogony 
which describes the firmament such as it appears at first sight. 

(31.) Gen. x. to xi. 9., is the oldest geographical treatise which 
exists, mixed, according to the universal custom of the ancient 
people of the East, with a portion of genealogy. No critic of the 
present day entertains any doubt, that this narrative is, in fact, 
almost entirely geographical, and contains, especially, names of 
tribes, cities, and races ; this is clearly indicated by the plural 
form of most of these names, and the etymological sense of some 
of them, borrowed from the situation of the countries or the habits 



■he 



NOTES TO BOOK IV. 251 

of the people ; as for example,, Mizraim, x. 6. Egypt ; the word 
signifies limits, because Egypt marks the limits between Asia and 
Africa ; and again, Sidon, x. 1 5, from a word signifying to hunt, 
to fish, the first occupation of the inhabitants of these mountainous 
shores. But who can for a moment imagine that this is a universal 
geography ? It was geography such as it was known by the 
Egyptians, the Israelites, and probably the Phoenicians, in the 
earliest times. 

(32.) Job, ix. 6 — 9; xxxviii. 32, 33 ; Amos, v. 8. In these 
passages, in which allusion is made to various constellations and 
to the zodiac, there is not a trace of astronomical science : their 
astronomy is that of simple sight, and in Job the ancient idea 
of the solidity of the firmament is very clearly expressed. " Hast 
thou with him spread out the sky, which is strong, and as a molten 
looking glass " (of metal)? Job, xxxvii. 18. The language of 
the fragment of an ancient song of victory put into the mouth of 
Joshua : " Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon ; and thou, moon, 
in the valley of Ajalon," Joshua, x. 12, was the universal lan- 
guage of popular astronomy ; and it is a very remarkable fact, 
that these Divine messengers, these sacred authors, whose opinions 
on astronomy and physics were allowed, notwithstanding their 
inspiration, to remain similar to those of their fellow-men, were 
exempt from the universal error of antiquity, astrology, which 
Moses had interdicted by placing it on a level with other practices 
of divination, Deut. xviii. 10, and to which the prophets evidently 
allude. Isaiah, xlvii. 9 ', Jer. xxvii. 9- 1- 35. Whence comes 
it that errors of astronomy are not corrected in the Bible, and 
that that of astrology is so plainly condemned ? The reason is 
evident : on the one hand there is a scientific error, on the other 
a religious one : divination by the stars was highly dangerous to 
the purity of the faith, while the systems of Ptolemy and of Co- 
pernicus brought no such peril with them. 

(33.) The summons of Moses to Israel at the beginning of his 
last song, " Remember the days of old, consider the years of many 
generations : ask thy father, and he will show thee ; thy elders, 
and they will tell thee," Deut. xxxii. 7, expresses precisely the 
aim of all the Scripture narratives ; and the system which desires 
to change the Bible into a complete and connected body of history 
is a false and dangerous one. The Bible is a history of ideas, 
and not of events ; this is proved by the absence of all regular 
chronology ; it contains dates, but is not chronological.* 

(34.) It is said in Genesis : " But flesh with the life thereof, 

* See Essai Historique et Critique sur les Dates de la Bible. Bio- 
graphie Sacree, by the Author. 

m 6 



252 NOTES TO BOOK IV. 

which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat." Gen. ix. 4. In 

Leviticus : " For the life of the flesh is in the blood ; " Lev. 

xvii. 11. 14; and in Deuteronomy: " The blood is the life/' 

The word life or soul has three different acceptations in the Old 

Testament: 1. The breath, the principle of life; and in this 

sense it applies to the brute creation as well as to man ; Gen. i. 

20 — 30 ; ii. 7- 2. The blood. 3. The soul, in the modern 

sense of the word : " that my soul may bless thee before I die/' 

said Isaac to his son ; Gen. xxvii. 4. " Thou shalt love the Lord 

thy God with all thy soul. . . ." Deut. vi. 5. Is it the aim of 

Moses iu these passages to speak physiologically, and to point out 

where the principle and seat of life, in men and animals, is to be 

found ? By no means. The coarse weapons of those early times, 

made, not of iron, but of brass, like those of Homer's heroes, 

rarely made inward wounds ; the wounds were usually superficial ; 

death was therefore preceded by great loss of blood, and from this 

simple observation the conclusion had been drawn that the blood 

w r as the principle of life. Moses makes use of this idea in order 

to inspire the Israelites with a great horror of the custom of using 

blood as nourishment, of drinking it while yet warm ; a custom at 

once injurious to health, and barbarous in the highest degree, 

most fitted to encourage and maintain ferocity ; a custom, in fine, 

consecrated in the rites of various idolatries, at which the blood of 

the victims was drunk. Moses attaches such religious and moral 

importance to this prohibition, and it was indeed so necessary, 

that he renews it a great many times. Ex. xxiii. 18 ; Lev. iii. 

17; vii. 27; xvii. 12; xix. 26; Deut. xii. 16—23; xv. 23. 

In order to give an additional sanction to this prohibition, he even 

goes back to the principles of the morality of Noah, and of those 

saved with him : his morality on this subject is evidently Divine ; 

his physiology purely human. 

" For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper 
than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder 
of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow . . ." Heb. iv. 
12. Is it the intention of the sacred writer in this passage to 
give a dissertation on the faculties of man, and the seat of the 
spiritual principle ? to draw distinctions between the mind, the 
faculty of knowing, the intellectual principle ; the soul, the faculty 
of wishing, the sensible principle, the seat of the affections and of 
the passions ; and the body, the apparatus and organs of the senses, 
the seat of animal life ? The apostle gives no attention to these 
distinctions of ancient philosophy, in the language which he here 
employs ; he is entirely occupied w 7 ith the endeavour to make the 
Hebrews understand, that the Divine threats (this is the sense of 
word of God in this passage, as is proved by the connection of 



NOTES TO BOOK. IV. 253 

ideas) include, and will fall not only upon the outward acts of 
infidelity, but the most secret evil thoughts, the bad resolutions 
concealed in the innermost depths of the conscience, as it were in 
the marrow of the bones. 

The same remark applies to the discourse of St. Paul in 
the Areopagus ; he is speaking before philosophers, and speaks 
no philosophy : " For in him (in God) we live, and move, and 
have our being ..." Acts, xvii. 28 : he has no idea of a disserta- 
tion on human nature, of drawing specious distinctions between 
pure existence, spontaneous activity, and being, that is, our collec- 
tive faculties, all that we are. His sole thought and meaning is, 
that we owe all things to God. 

{35.) Errors, that is to say, in conformity with the science, 
the opinions of the times. The example of our Divine master 
completes the proof of this absolute necessity ; he himself conde- 
scended to speak the language, the opinions of his time ; the 
botany, or rather the agriculture of antiquity taught, that the 
grain of corn died and was decomposed in the earth ; and Christ, 
in order to make the Jews understand that his doctrine would 
not produce its full fruit till after his death and resurrection, 
said to them : " Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a corn of 
wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone and sterile : 
but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit." John, xii. 24. So 
general was this popular opinion, that St. Paul drew from it an 
argument in favour of the doctrine of the resurrection: li That 
which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die." 1 Cor. xv. 36'. 

Again, in history, inaccuracies in details not affecting the 
truth : such, for example, according to the most enlightened 
critics, is the coincidence which St. Luke believed to exist between 
the taxing ordered by Caesar Augustus, the government of 
Cyrenius in Syria, and the birth of Christ. Luke, ii. 1. 

Among these unimportant errors must be reckoned the insig- 
nificant contradictions which have been discovered in the Holy 
Scriptures ; and here, a remark presents itself to which we attach 
great importance : Scripture not only contains variations imper- 
ceptible to the simple view, and which only appear when magnified, 
so to speak, beneath the piercing eye of erudite criticism ; but 
also many perfectly obvious discrepancies, which lie open to view, 
and which it is evident the sacred writers might have avoided 
with the slightest care, had these details merited their attention. 
It is clear, that these insignificant contradictions, simply caused 
by some distraction of mind, or lapse of memory, did not for a 
moment employ their thoughts — we should follow their example. 
Sound criticism brings forward these discrepancies, and with 



254 NOTES TO BOOK IV. 



reason, as negative proofs of the truth of the narratives, and sees 
in them a guarantee that the Gospel was not the work of impostors 
in collusion with each other ; impostors need connivance ; the 
truthful never. A few examples will suffice. According to St. 
Mark and St. Luke, " Blind Bartimeus, the son of Timeus, sat 
by the highway-side/' near the walls of Jericho, " begging. And 
when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth he began to cry out, 
and say, Jesus, Thou son of David, have mercy on me. And 
many charged him that he should hold his peace : but he cried 
the more a great deal, Thou son of David, have mercy on me. 

And Jesus stood still, and commanded him to be called and 

said unto him, What wilt thou that I should do unto thee ? The 
blind man said unto him, Lord, that I might receive my sight. 
And Jesus said unto him, Go thy way ; thy faith hath made thee 
whole. And immediately he received his sight, and followed 
Jesus in the way . . . glorifying God." This miracle was per- 
formed, according to St. Mark, as Jesus was quitting Jericho, 
Mark, x. 46 ; according to St. Luke, as he was approaching the 
town, Luke, xviii. 35. St. Matthew again relates the event as oc- 
curring when Jesus quitted Jericho, but mentions that two blind 
men were restored to sight. The facts are in other respects identical. 

St. John relates, that the condemnation of Jesus by Pilate took 
place " about the sixth hour," that is, towards noon. John, xix. 14. 
This text is irreconcileable with the order of events on the day of 
crucifixion, as recounted by the other Evangelists, and especially 
with the assertion of St. Mark : "And it was the third hour 
(nine in the morning) ; and they crucified him." Mark, xv. 25. 
The passage in John is considered doubtful, although it is to be 
found in almost all the manuscripts and ancient versions. 

The calling of St. Paul is related three times in the book of 
Acts : the main points of the narrative are always absolutely the 
same ; the details present some variation. In Acts, ix. 7, we 
read : " The men which journeyed with him stood speechless, 
hearing a voice, but seeing no man." In chap. xxii. 9 ' " And 
they that were with me saw indeed the light, and were afraid ; 
but they heard not the voice of him that spake to me : " and in 
chap. xxvi. 13 : "I saw in the way a light from heaven, above 
the brightness of the sun, shining round about me and them 
which journeyed with me." It is only necessary to read these 
passages to see that they recount one and the same event, though 
containing slight variations of narrative. 

The most striking example of the condescension necessary to 
the success of his mission, which Christ showed in accommodating 
his language to the prejudices of his times and of his nation, is 



es 
rs 



NOTES TO BOOK IV. 255 

found in the cures of possessed persons, or demoniacs. The minds 
of the Jews were at that period imbued with the idea, that extra- 
ordinary or sudden misfortunes, fearful and strange maladies, 
infirmities, mental alienation, and premature death, were caused by 
intermediate beings, angels or demons ; angels, when they saw in 
the circumstance a trial or punishment from heaven, demons, if 
they could discover no providential explanation of the fact. In 
pursuance of these ideas, possession was admitted as an explanation 
of four distinct cases — madness, epilepsy, paralysis, and, which 
is very remarkable, deafness from birth : " they brought to him 
a dumb man possessed with a devil," Matt. ix. 32; xii. 22. " . . . 
my son, which hath a dumb spirit." Mark, ix. 17* The last 
case furnishes a solution to the problem. The Jews, in their total 
ignorance of physiology and of anatomy, attributed to the empire 
and presence of demons, every anomalous or unhealthy condition 
of the human frame which was not signalised by any outward 
injury ; in none of the cases, mental or corporeal, above men- 
tioned, did the organs appear affected, and the Jews, in default 
of better reasons, had recourse to the intervention of the spirits of 
darkness to explain them. 

It is an old observation, that madness becomes more common 
in times of political crisis, of national commotion ; and every- 
thing attests that at this period, the Jews, impatiently bearing the 
yoke of the Romans, and constantly revolting against them, were 
in a general state of exasperation and enthusiasm. Another ob- 
servation, the truth of which is proved by experience, is, that 
mental alienations take the colour of the times in which they occur : 
a political colour in a time of revolution, a religious colour at a 
period of fanaticism ; the unhappy persons who have fallen into 
this state, speak according to the ideas which predominated in 
their minds when sane. Now, the entire Jewish nation was in 
expectation of the Messiah, and the general opinion attributed to 
him beforehand, was irresistible power over the demon, represented 
as his enemy, Matt. 25 — SQ. All these points being admitted, 
we may easily understand how maniacs, and even the sick, the 
infirm, the epileptic, who believed themselves possessed by a de- 
mon, put words into his mouth, and cried at the sight of the Lord ; 
" What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God ? art 
thou come hither to torment us before the time of judgment ? " 
Matt. viii. 29; "I know thee who thou art." Mark, i. 24. We 
can understand how the Evangelists, in relating the cure, make 
use of expressions in conformity with the popular error : " And 
Jesus rebuked the devil and he departed out of him ; and the 
child was cured from that very hour ; " Matt. xvii. 18; Mark, 



256 NOTES TO BOOK IV. 

ix. 2.5 ; and finally,, we can understand why Jesus avoided pro- 
nouncing his opinion on the question, and adopted on these oc- 
casions the ordinary language, the only one which would he com- 
prehended : " He commandeth the unclean spirits, and they come 
out." Luke, iv. 36. If Christ had taken a different course to 
expel the demons, the miracle would not have heen attributed to 
him, and his aim would not have been accomplished ; if, on the 
other hand, he had attempted to correct the popular opinion on 
the subject, he would have raised up to himself immense and 
useless difficulties, and would have compromised the doctrine of 
immortality ; the Jews would never have believed in an unpeopled 
heaven : we must remember, that the Sadducees said that there 
was "no resurrection, neither angel, nor spirit: " and these sectarians 
would have skilfully used the opportunity of thus making him 
apparently contradict himself, as they frequently attempted to do. 
And, lastly, a circumstance which doubtless had to do with deter- 
mining Christ not to raise the question was, that the error was 
beginning to disappear : the Evangelists themselves, sometimes 
speak of the demoniacs healed, as of sick men restored to health, 
maniacs restored to reason : " And they (the people) come to 
Jesus, and see him that was possessed with the devil, and had the 
legion, sitting, and clothed, and in his right mind;" Mark, v. 
15 ; Luke, viii. 35 ; and the light of Christianity was to suffice 
to complete the reformation of opinion. 

(36.) " But the manifestation of the spirit is given to every 
man to profit withal " (for the common profit). 1 Cor. xii. 7. 
"■ Who" ( Moses), said Stephen, (C received the lively oracles (the 
words of life) to give unto us." Acts, vii. 38. " Unto whom 
(the prophets) it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto 
us, they did minister the things which are now reported unto 
you," ... 1 Peter, i. 12 ; and hence, the courage, the calm 
firmness, the deep sense of duty which the Divine messengers dis- 
play in communicating Divine revelations ; tf And Moses said (to 
Pharoah), Thou hast spoken well ; I will see thy face again no 
more ; " Ex. x. 29 ; and " he endured, as seeing him who is 
invisible." Heb. xi. 27. Si As the Lord liveth," said Micaiah 
to the messengers of the tyrant Ahab, " what the Lord saith unto 
me, that will I speak." 1 Kings, xxii. 14. <f . . . He that hath 
my word, let him speak my word faithfully . . . saith the Lord." 
Jer. xxiii. 28. " But Peter and John answered and said unto 
them (the sanhedrim), Whether it be right in the sight of God, 
to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye. For we 
cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard." 
Acts, iv. 19,20. 









NOTES TO BOOK IV. 257 

So true is it, that inspiration, and all the gifts which accompa- 
nied it, were only means given to the ministers of the Lord for 
the profit of the world, that they were not permitted to glory or 
rejoice in them ; and that their share in the blessings of Christi- 
anity was only guaranteed to them, as to all other believers, by 
their individual progress. " Notwithstanding in this rejoice not," 
said Jesus to the seventy, " that the spirits are subject unto you ; 
but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven." 
Luke, x. 20. 

(37.) This sentiment has never been more sublimely ex- 
pressed than by St. Paul : " Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be like- 
minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. 
Yea, and if I be offered on the sacrifice and service of your faith, 
I joy, and rejoice with you all.'' Phil. ii. 2 — 17* 

(38.) " How shall they believe in him (Christ), of whom they 
have not heard ? So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing 
by the word of God. But I say, Have they not heard ? Yes, 
verily, their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto 
the ends of the world." Rom. x. 14. 17, 18. The expression 
of St. Paul is more concise and stronger. He says simply : 
" Faith cometh by hearing," that is, by attentive and intelligent 
hearing, in the same sense as both Job and Elihu say : " Doth 
not the ear try words ? " Job, xii. 1 1 ; xxxiv. 3. 

Again, redemption in some sort speaks the language of the 
time, even to the writing on the cross, iC written in Greek, and 
Latin, and Hebrew." Luke, xxiii. 38 j John, xix. 20. 

The officer of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who had 
" come to Jerusalem for to worship," was returning thence, 
reading the prophet Isaiah. The Evangelist Philip said to him : 
" Understandest thou what thou readest? And he said, How 
can I, except some man should guide me ? . . . I pray thee, of 
whom speaketh the prophet this ? of himself, or of some other 
man ? "... he was reading the prophecy of our Saviour's suf- 
ferings and death. Acts, viii. 27- To this proselyte, whose 
mind was so well disposed that he immediately received baptism, 
the form had evidently hitherto veiled the substance, because this 
form belonged to an age and country differing from his own ; and 
St. Paul explicitly acknowledges how necessary a comprehension 
of the form is to that of the substance, when, at the beginning of 
one of the most profound discussions of his Epistle to the Ro- 
mans, he interrupts himself to say : " I speak to them that know 
the law," (the Mosaic law). Rom. vii. 1. 

(39-) To what assembly of Christians might we not say, with 



258 NOTES TO BOOK IV. 

St. Paul : ei Came the word of God unto you only ? " 1 Cor. 
xiv. 36. 

(40.) u . . . Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth 
speaketh," Matt. xii. 34 ; Luke, vi. 45 ; and what must not be 
the abundance of a heart penetrated by the Spirit of God ! The 
whole of sacred Scripture sufficiently testifies. 

(41.) The question of literal inspiration is in the same way 
discarded from the Bible itself ; there is not one word in the 
Bible in favour of literal inspiration ; and to understand in this 
sense a few expressions which appear to favour the system, is to 
take the appearance for the reality, the phrase for the idea. We 
read in the prophecy of Moses : " I will raise them up a prophet. 
. . . and will put my words in his mouth." Deut. xviii. 18. 
This is but an image ; God does not utter words, and it is in vain 
to persist in taking the passage literally : so little does this pro- 
mise express a literal inspiration of a prophetic ministry, that the 
same expression is applied by Isaiah to the whole Jewish nation, 
considered as the prophet and teacher of other nations ; 
Isaiah, li. 16. The expression of which Jesus makes use, "one 
jot, (iota, the smallest letter of the alphabet,) or one tittle (point, 
mark of punctuation) shall in no wise pass from the law, or fail," 
Matt. v. 11; Luke, xvi. 17, is a proverbial and hyperbolical 
manner of speaking. 

(42.) " And God said, Let there be light : and there was 
light." Gen. i. 3. This example of the sublime, admired even 
by pagan rhetoric, fully justifies our definition. 

(43.) Beside the burned corpses of the sacrilegious sons, it is 
said, that lc Aaron held his peace," Lev. x. 3, as much from the 
anguish of grief as from an inward assent to the justice of the 
terrible sentence. The sad astonishment of Job's friends, at the 
sight of the patriarch in his misery, is poetically expressed in 
these terms : " They sat down with him on the ground seven 
days and seven nights ; and none spake a word unto him : for 
they saw that his grief was very great." Job, ii. 13. Amos, in 
his prophetic descriptions of the destruction of the kingdom of 
Israel, represents parents and friends, in the midst of the mul- 
titude of the dead, caused by pestilence and war, seeking whether 
they have forgotten none, whether all are buried, and saying to 
each other while performing these mournful duties : " Hold thy 
tongue, for we may not make mention of (invoke) the name of 
the Lord." Amos, vi. 10 ; viii. 3. In the greatest misfortunes 
and evils, resolute silence and expectation of death are the only 
resources against injustice and desperate grief: "... I know 
that I shall be justified, (that I am innocent). Who is he that 



NOTES TO BOOK IV. 259 

will plead with me ? for now, if I hold my tongue, I shall give 
up the ghost." Job, xiii. 19« 

(44.) St. Paul himself had neither shame nor scruple in con- 
fessing, that his intelligence of sacred things surpassed his power 
of adequately expressing them : ' ' But though I be rude in speech, 
yet not in knowledge." 2 Cor. xi. 6. 

(45.) (c And I knew such a man (St. Paul here speaks of 
himself) . . . how that he was caught up into Paradise, and heard 
unspeakable words, which it is not lawful (possible) for a man to 
utter." 2 Cor. xii. 4. 

(46.) According to an energetic expression of St. Paul's on 
the subject of the gift of unknown tongues, to all Divine messen- 
gers thus gifted, it should have been said : ie If there be no in* 
terpreter let him speak to himself, and to God." 1 Cor. xiv. 28. 
In the same chapter, St. Paul endeavours to make it understood 
that unintelligible revelations would be real punishments ; he 
makes an allusion, made use of in this sense, to the threats of 
God against the Jews, that he would cause them to be taught 
by barbarous conquerors, whose language they should not under- 
stand, since they refused to obey the messengers of God who 
came to them speaking their own language. (See Book I. Chap. vn. 
note 24.) 

(47.) A few words may sum up all the ideas of these last 
chapters : inspiration was not, and could not be, absolute, and the 
Gospel itself furnishes proofs that this truth of necessity is 
also a truth of fact. If there is an inspiration which appears, at 
first sight, as if it must have been complete, and have left nothing 
of the man in the person inspired, it is that of the day of Pente- 
cost. The Lord had promised to the apostles " another Com- 
forter, that he may abide with you for ever ; even the Spirit of 
truth ;" John, xiv. 16, 17 ', Ci • • • the Holy Ghost, he shall teach 
you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, what- 
soever I have said unto you." xiv. 26'; xvi. 13. He himself, 
before quitting them, " opened their understanding, that they 
might understand the Scriptures," Luke, xxiv. 45, and bestowed 
on them a fresh portion of enlightenment ; ie he breathed on 
them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost," 
John, xx. 22 ; and afterwards, well knowing that men of such 
simple minds needed a material sign in order that they might 
believe in the instantaneous aud immediate effect of a spiritual 
miracle, he assembled them at Jerusalem, and commanded them 
saying, . . . " tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be 
endued with power from on high." Luke, xxiv. 49- The day 
divinely chosen for the foundation of the Christian church arrived, 



260 NOTES TO BOOK IV. 

and then " they were all filled with the Holy Ghost." Acts, ii. 4. 
We might certainly be inclined to think, on these numerous 
testimonies, that this inspiration granted, confirmed, and renewed, 
at so many different times, must have penetrated the whole under- 
standing, and rendered divine, so to speak, every thought of these 
privileged men. But such was not the case, even with the 
apostles ; and long afterwards, notwithstanding the positive com- 
mands of Christ that the Gospel should be preached Ci in all 
the world, and to every creature, and among all nations," 
Mark, xvi. 15 ; Matt, xxviii. 19 ; Luke, xxiv. 47 ; " unto the 
uttermost part of the earth." Acts, i. 8. St. Peter needed the 
vision sent to him at Caesarea to constrain him to open the church 
to the Gentiles, to baptize Cornelius and his family, and to com- 
prehend at length that " God is no respecter of persons : but in 
every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is 
accepted with him." x. 34, 35. The astonishment in Jerusalem 
was general, when the conversion of these Gentiles became known. 
Peter had to justify himself before his colleagues, and only suc- 
ceeded in so doing by attesting a miracle : " And as I began to 
speak, the Holy Ghost fell on them, as on us at the beginning." 
Then only the assembled disciples and apostles held their peace, 
were appeased, and glorified God, saying, " Then hath God also 
to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life." Acts, xi. 15 — 18. 

(48.) In fact, in the faith claimed by inspiration, it is required 
to believe in God and in the man sent by him, and speaking in 
his name : " the people (the Jews) believed the Lord and his 
servant Moses." Ex. xiv. 31. " What are we ? (Moses and 
Aaron,) your murmurings are not against us, but against the 
Lord." xvi. 8. St. Paul begins his Epistles with a preamble in 
which these two ideas are connected : " Paul, called to be an 
apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, unto the church 
of God which is at Corinth." . . etc. . . 1 Cor. i. 1 ; 2 Cor. i. 1 ; 
Gal. i. 1 ; Eph. i. 1 ; Col. i. 1 ; 1 Tim. i. 1. 49. The Jews 
believed in the discourse of the diviners, and only learned too 
late, when tc the days of visitation " were come, " the days of 
recompense" (retribution) arrived, that " the prophet" (the 
false prophet,) was " a fool, the spiritual man (the man who 
pretended to be inspired,) mad." Hosea, ix. 1. 

(50.) The officers of Jehu treated Elisha, the messenger of 
God, as mad, 2 Kings, ix. 11; and the first captives of Babylon 
looked upon Jeremiah, who announced the long duration of their 
bondage, in the same light. Jer. xxix. 26. " And many of 
them (of the Jews,) said. He (Jesus) hath a devil and is mad." 
John, vii. 20 ; viii. 52 ; x. 20. " And as he thus spake for 



NOTES TO BOOK IV. 261 

himself, Festus said with a loud voice, Paul, thou art beside thy- 
self; much learning doth make thee mad." Acts, xxvi. 24. For 
" the natural man (one who only sees things from an earthly point 
of view,) receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God ; for they 
are foolishness unto him." 1 Cor. ii. 14. 51. John the Baptist, 
the forerunner of Christ, said : " A man can receive nothing 
(has no right to attribute anything to himself) except it (the 
right) be given him from heaven," John, iii. 27 ; that is to say, any 
usurpation of a sacred ministry, and much more of a divine mis- 
sion, is criminal. But how if a man believes that he has received 
this right?. . . Then it remains to say with Jesus himself: " If 
I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true. There is another 
(and here Christ gives time to his irritated and ill-disposed hearers 
to become calm and reflect, by not naming the witness which he 
claims, that of his heavenly Father,) that beareth witness of me ; 
and I know that the witness which he witnesseth of me is true;'' 
John, v. 31, 32 ; and on another occasion Jesus confirms this 
declaration, by saying : ' ' Though I bear record of myself, yet my 
record is true ... for I am not alone, but I and the Father that 
sent me. It is also written in your law, that the testimony of two 
men is true. I am one that bear witness of myself, and the Father 
that sent me beareth witness of me," viz. by miracles, viii. 14 — 18. 

(52.) The duty of carefully examining and inquiring before 
conceding the claims of those who claimed it on the ground of being 
inspired, was well fulfilled by the chief among the seven churches 
of Asia Minor, that of Ephesus, of which St. John was the pas- 
tor : i( I know," he says to this church, " that thou hast tried 
them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found 
them liars/' Rev. ii. 2. (See Book VI. Chap, lxviii. note 63.) 

(53.) There are but two possible restrictions to this rule, 
restrictions which, in reality, confirm it: 1. That indicated by 
St. John himself: "Hereby know ye the Spirit of God; 
every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the 
flesh is of God : and every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus 
Christ is come in the flesh is not of God." 1 John, iv. 2 — 5. 
This means of discernment supposes the advent of the Saviour, 
the redemption, already accomplished, and, consequently, the 
revelation already given. St. John therefore alludes in this 
passage to a particular revelation, passing through the crucible of 
the revelation previously recognised as such ; to a new inspiration 
placed in comparison with the teachings of an inspiration believed 
in and admitted, and which could not have been so on proofs 
merely subjective. And even this labour of comparison was so 
difficult in the early church, in which both true and false inspira- 



262 NOTES TO BOOK IV. 

tion so frequently made their appearance, that St, Paul reckons 
among the gifts of the Spirit of God, what he calls the " discern- 
ing of spirits/' 1 Cor. xii. 10, that is, of the inspired teachers 
who explained the Scriptures : it was hy comparing their expla- 
nations with the Scriptures themselves, that endeavours were 
made to discover their Divine authority. 2. When an inspiration, 
itself without objective proofs sufficiently valid or strong, is 
guaranteed, by another inspiration, the objective proofs of which 
are sufficiently strong. Thus, as all Christian antiquity believed, 
the Gospel according to St. Mark was guaranteed by the friend of 
his mother, the guest of her house, St. Peter, Acts, xii. 12, who 
calls Mark his son, 1 Peter, v. 13, a name of friendship which the 
apostles gave to their proselytes : and the two books of St. Luke 
by St. Paul, to whom Luke was a faithful fellow-labourer and in- 
timate friend to the last. 2 Tim. iv. 11. Thus, again, St. Paul 
sometimes begins his Epistles jointly in his own name and that of 
one of his fellow-labourers ; Sosthenes, 1 Cor. i. 1 ; Timothy, 2 
Cor. i. 1 ; Phil. i. 1 ; Col. i. 1 ; Philem. i. 1 ; Silvanus, 1 Thess. 
i. 1 ; 2 Thess. i. 1. It is evident that the ministry of the apostle 
here serves as a guarantee for that of the disciples. 

(54.) From the very commencement of the Israelitish theo- 
cracy this principle was laid down by Moses himself : " And if 
thou say in thine heart, How shall we know the word which the 
Lord hath not spoken ? When a prophet speaketh in the name 
of the Lord, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the 
thing which the Lord hath not spoken/' Deut. xviii. 21, 22. 
" Let them bring forth, and show us what shall happen : let them 
show the former things (the things which shall happen first) what 
they be, that we may consider them, and know the latter end of 
them; or declare us things for tocome (events of a more distant period). 
Show the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know 
that ye are gods." Isaiah, xii. 22, 23. " And who, as I, shall 
call, and declare the things which are coming, and shall come?" 
said the Lord to the idols, xii v. 7- " Who hath declared this 
from ancient time ? who hath told it from that time ? have not 
I the Lord?" xlv. 21. " The prophet which prophesieth of 
peace," of prosperity, which it was so pleasant an office to an- 
nounce to their fellow-countrymen, " when the word of the 
prophet shall come to pass, then shall the prophet be known, that 
the Lord hath truly sent him." Jer. xxviii. 9- Among a people 
so frequently rebellious as the Jews, the prophets had mostly ca- 
lamities to predict, however painful the office : " Surely the Lord 
God will do nothing (against his people), but he revealeth his 
secret unto his servants the prophets . . . the Lord God hath 



NOTES TO BOOK IV. 263 

spoken, who can but prophesy ? " Amos, in. 7, 8. After the 
captivity of Babylon, Zechariah still gave the faithful accomplish- 
ment of the prophecies as a proof of the Divine mission of the 
prophets : " Your fathers, where are they ? and the prophets, 
do they live for ever ? " but their words live. " My words and my 
statutes, which I commanded my servants the prophets, did they 
not take hold of your fathers ?" saith the Lord. Zech. i. 5, 6. 

(55.) The following texts will show that the general aim of 
miracles is never any other. God said to Moses : " Lo, I come 
unto thee in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I 
speak with thee, and believe thee for ever." Ex. xix. 9« Elijah, 
at the moment of calling down fire from heaven to consume his 
sacrifice, prayed in these words : " Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, 
and of Israel, let it be known this day that thou art God in Israel, 
and that I am thy servant, and that I have done all these things 
at thy word/' 1 Kings, xviii. 36. 

Relying on such striking examples, the most pious and en- 
lightened men trusted with entire confidence in this sign of a 
Divine mission ; iC Rabbi," said Nicodemus to Jesus, (i we know 
that thou art a teacher come from God : for no man can do these 
miracles that thou doest, except God be with him." John, iii. 2. 
" Philip saith unto him, Lord, show us the father, ^show us 
some celestial sign of the presence of God,) and it sufficeth us." 
The adversaries of Christ reasoned on the same ground : " What 
sign showest thou unto us," said the Jews to him after he had 
expelled the dealers from the temple, ' ' seeing that thou doest these 
things? " John, ii. 18. " What sign showest thou then, that we 
may see, and believe thee ? what dost thou work?" vi. SO. This 
same conviction became popular, that Divine missions were 
proved by the power of miracles, gave the form to the unworthy 
outrages addressed to Christ : " Prophesy unto us, thou Christ, 
who is he that smote thee ? " Matt. xxvi. 68 ; Mark, xiv. 65 ; 
Luke, xxii. 64. " If thou be the Son of God, come down from 
the cross." Matt, xxvii. 40 ; Mark, xv. 30. 

Such was the idea, generally admitted, of miracles, as proofs of 
a Divine mission. Jesus Christ fully confirmed it, by rendering it 
personal to himself. The disciples of John the Baptist came and 
said to him : e< Art thou he that should come, or do we look for 
another ? Jesus replied : Go and show John again those things 
which ye do hear and see : the blind receive their sight, and the 
lame walk ; the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear ; the dead 
are raised up. . ." Matt. xi. 3, 4, 5 ; Luke, vii. 20. 22. " But 
if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God," said he to the Jews, 
" then the kingdom of God is come unto you." Matt. xii. 28 ; 



264 NOTES TO BOOK IV 

Luke, xi. 20. " Then said Jesus unto them (his apostles) 
plainly, Lazarus is dead, and I am glad for your sakes that I was 
not there, to the intent ye may believe ; " and at the moment of 
raising Lazarus from the dead, he blesses God, saying : " Father, 
I thank thee that thou hast heard me. And I know that thou 
hearest me always : but because of the people which stand by I 
said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me." John, 
xi. 15—42. 

Jesus often returns to this idea : " The works which the Father 
hath given me to finish, the same works that I do, bear witness 
of me, that the Father hath sent me." John, v. 36. " The 
works that I do in my Father's name, they bear witness of 

me If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not. 

But if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works." 
x. 25. 37, 38. 

The more the character of a Divine messenger appears to 
become compromised and effaced, the more brilliantly do miracles 
shine forth. Hence the numerous prodigies which accompany the 
death of Christ. 

The apostles give no other explanation of the wonders worked 
by the Saviour : " Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God 
among you by miracles, and wonders and signs, which God did 
by him in the midst of you. . . ." Acts, ii. 22. 

The miracles of the apostles, in their turn admit of no other 
explanation. . . " the Lord working with them, and confirming 
the word with signs following." Mark, xvi. 20. " Why 
marvel ye at this ? " said Peter and John to the Jews after the 
cure of the lame man ; " or why look ye so earnestly on us, as 
though by our own power or holiness we had made this man to 
walk?" Acts, iii. 12. " Truly the signs of an apostle were 
wrought among you in all patience, in signs, and wonders, and 
mighty deeds." 2 Cor. xii. 12. "God also bearing them (the 
apostles) witness both with signs and wonders." Heb. ii. 4. 

This effect of miracles, may again be seen in the opinion given 
on them by those on whose behalf they were performed. After having 
eaten of the loaves, the multitude said : " This is of a truth that 
prophet that should come into the world," John, vi. 14 j and 
the blind man cured in the pool of Siloam replied to the Pharisees : 
lC If this man were not of God, he could do nothing " (no such 
miracle), ix. 33. 

Finally, it was from the Messiah, in a much greater degree 
than from any other messenger of heaven, that a brilliant mani- 
festation of the power of working miracles was expected : " And 
many of the people believed on him," that is, recognised his Divine 



NOTES TO BOOK IV. 2G5 

mission, "and said; when Christ cometh, will he do more mira- 
eles than these which this man has done? " vii. 31. 

To these positive proofs it is worthy of remark, that the Bible 
adds a negative proof of the general aim of miracles, that of 
serving as guarantees to inspiration : the mission of John the 
Baptist, the forerunner of the Messiah, was not accompanied by 
miracles ; for this simple reason, that he was only a forerunner 
contemporary with the Saviour whom he announced ; his ministry 
-was, therefore, in some sort only a prophecy, which found its 
guarantee in the event which it announced. f< And many re- 
sorted unto him (unto Jesus), and said, John did no miracle : 
but all things that John spake of this man were true." x. 41. 

(56.} In the earliest times, as in more modern ones, in the 
age of Moses as in that of the Gospel, all pretension to super- 
natural authority supported itself by false miracles, or false 
prophecies: Pharaoh's magicians, Ex. vii. 11; viii. 7, who 
imitated the miracles of Moses in their own way, instead of 
undoing them, which would have been of some use ; the sorceress 
of Endor, who feigned to go, according to the expression of 
Isaiah, " for the living to the dead ;" Isaiah, viii. 19 ; all the 
multitude of the false prophets who so deeply deceived the Jews 
before' the captivity of Babylon ; the magicians and exorcists of 
the time of the Gospel ; Simon, who thought that the power of 
working miracles might be bought with money, Acts, viii. 18 ; 
the sons of Sceva, who, stupid in their imposture and incredulity, 
said to the demons : " We adjure you by Jesus, whom Paul 
preacheth," xix. 13 ; thereby avowing that they knew not this 
Jesus ; all these pretended possessors of superhuman powers, 
enthusiasts, impostors, or visionaries, invented nothing new in 
these arts of deception. Again, it was against this kind of false- 
hood that Moses warned his people : " If there arise among you 
a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a 
wonder ; and the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he 
spake unto thee, saying" (and he then say) " Let us go after 
other Gods. . . . thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that 
prophet, or that dreamer of dreams : for the Lord your God 
proveth you, to know whether ye love the Lord your God with 
all your heart and with all your soul." Deut. xiii. 1, 2. And 
when needful, Providence always brought the faithful to say: 
" How can a man that is a sinner (an impostor) do such miracles? " 
John, ix. 16. 

(57-) (See Book II. Chap. xix. note 2.) In the beautiful alle- 
gory with which the Book of Proverbs opens, Divine wisdom speaks 
of the world and of mankind before their existence, as if they 

N 



266 NOTES TO BOOK IV. 

already existed : " The Lord possessed me in the begining of his 
way, before his works of old. I was set up from everlasting, 
from the beginning or ever the earth was. When there were no 
depths, I was brought forth ; when there were no fountains 
abounding with water. . . While as yet he had not made the 
earth. . . when he prepared the heavens, I was there. . . .re- 
joicing in the habitable part of his earth ; and my delights were 
with the sons of men." Prov. viii. 22, 23, 24. 26, 27- 81. 

(58.) God said to Moses : " I know their imagination which 
they go about, even now, before I have brought them into the 
land which I sware." Deut. xxxi. 21. 

" The Lord searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the 
imaginations of the thoughts/' 1 Chron. xxviii. Q. ei O Lord of 
hosts, that judgest righteously, that triest the reins and the 
heart. . . . Jer. xi. 20.; xx. 12. Thou, Lord, which knowest 
the hearts of all men. . . Acts, i. 24. ; Rev. ii. 23. Neither is 
there any creature that is not manifest in his sight : but all things 
are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have 
to do." Heb. iv. 13. 

{5Q.) The Gospel teaches us, that the prophecies were enveloped 
in the necessary degree of obscurity, of which God alone could 
judge, to leave human activity free. (See on free-will, Book I. 
Chap. iv. note 10, and Chap. xi. note 45; Book III. Chap, xxx. 
note 10. ; Book IV. Chap. xiv. note 23.) In consequence 
" they that dwell at Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they 
knew him not, nor yet the voices of the prophets which are read 
every sabbath-day, they have fulfilled them in condemning him" 
(Jesus). Acts, xiii. 27. "And now brethren," says St. Peter to 
his fellow-citizens, " I wot, that through ignorance ye did it, as 
did also your rulers." iii. 17. "If thou hadst known, even thou, 
at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace I 
but now they are hid from thine eyes." Luke, xix. 42. (See Book 
III. Chap. xxxn. note 32.) 

The result of this half-light, which left the will entirely free, has 
been that the prophecies, like the rest of revelation, have been 
instruments either of progress or its opposite, of which human 
activity has made use in its double direction, for good and truth, 
or for evil and falsehood. Examples of both uses are not wanting; 
two of the most remarkable will suffice. 

It appears beyond a doubt that Daniel, in order to obtain from 
Cyrus the famous decree touching the liberty and restoration of 
the Jews, brought before his eyes the prophecies which announced 
his great destiny, his conquests, the taking of Babylon in the 
height even of a festival, Jer. Ii. 3,9. 57 ; and the glory reserved 



NOTES TO BOOK IV. 267 

to him by Providence of restoring to the people of God their 
country, their nationality and their religion. Isaiah,xiii; xiv. 1. 28; 
xliv. 23. 28 ; xlv. 1.8- Jer. 1. li. Flavius Josephus, the historian 
of the Jews, attests this intervention of Daniel, and the decree of 
the king of Persia borrows the expressions of Isaiah's prophecies ; 
2 Chron. xxxvi. 23 ; Ezra, i. 2. This was surely a very 
legitimate use of the knowledge of God's counsels given by God 
himself ; it was securing to the Jews the favourable regard of the 
conqueror of Asia, and obliging the nation themselves to remember 
that it was to God alone they must attribute their deliverance. 
In a prophecy of the progress which should be made by Judaism 
beyond the circle of Abraham's posterity, Isaiah says : " In that 
day shall there be an altar to the Lord in the midst of the land 
of Egypt." Isaiah, xix. 19- The sense of this passage is doubt- 
less figurative, and the prophet did not intend to speak of a real 
sanctuary and altar. Under the reign of Ptolemy Philometor, 
one of the family of Oniah, a descendant of the pontificial race, 
but excluded from the office of high priest by the ambition of 
his uncles and the injustice of the kings of Syria, then masters 
of Judaea, retired to Egypt, persuaded the Egyptian monarch, 
that he was charged with the accomplishment of the prophecy, 
and obtained permission to build a temple to the true God at 
Leontopolis, a town in the province of Heliopolis. It is pro- 
bable that he altered some words in the passage so as to make 
Ptolemy believe that the town itself, or at least the province, was 
indicated : the text is uncertain. It is at any rate evident that 
this priest abused the prophecy, and twisted its meaning so as to 
make it suit his political interest. (See, on this passage, Book 
III. Chap. xl. note 79- 

(60.) These considerations explain how it was that the faith 
of Israel saw prophecies everywhere in the sacred books of the 
first covenant, especially after the origin of the " company " or 
schools " of the prophets," which existed at least as early as the 
time of Samuel. 1 Sam. xix. 20. tl Yea, and all the prophets 
from Samuel," said St. Peter to the Jews, ei and those that follow 
after, as many as have spoken, have likewise foretold of these 
days." Acts, iii. 24. In order to clear up this subject it is 
indispensable to keep before the mind the ordinary sense of 
the word " prophesy " in the Holy Scripture ; to prophesy sig- 
nifies to instruct, or teach, whether by hymns and sacred songs, 
1 Chron. xxv. 1 ; or by exhortations and discourses. Numb. xi. 
25. The pupils in these schools of the prophets were exercised 
under the direction of a head, in these pious duties, and from 
among them God often selected the men to whom Divine missions 

N 2 



268 NOTES TO BOOK IV. 

were confided, when commands, warnings, or threats, were to be 
conveyed, or prophecies, in the sense of predictions, delivered. 
1 Kings, xviii. 4; 2 Kings, ii. 3. 5 ; ix. 1. The idea of the 
perpetuity of the dynasty of David ; the idea, vague as yet, of 
great blessings and brilliant glory reserved for Tsrael in a future 
still unknown, and the idea of a king, of a celestial liberator, pro- 
mised from the times of the patriarchs, occupied the meditations 
of the poets and musicians collected in these establishments, 
which existed at least till the time of Elijah and Elisha, and of 
the sacred authors whose discourses and poems have been pre- 
served from Amos, the most ancient among them, to Malachi, the 
most modern. Thus became established, in the simplest manner, 
a natural tendency to see a prophecy in every word of the Old 
Testament, and to discover the Gospel written there beforehand, 
even in the most distant allusions ; hence we can understand why 
St. Matthew refers the prophecy of Isaiah, liii. 4, to the miracu- 
lous cure of diseases by Christ, Matt. viii. 17, while St. Peter 
applies it to the remission of sins. 1 Peter, ii. 24. But this 
eagerness of early piety to discover and rest upon prophecies too 
detailed and too numerous, has no power to disturb the two 
essential facts in this view, viz. that the future was the natural 
field of revelation ; and that a redemption without prophecies, 
without previous promises, was an impossibility. (See Book III. 
Chap, xxxii. note 32.) God appears to have said to all his 
prophets, as to St. John : " Write the things which thou hast 
seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be 
hereafter." Rev. i. 19. 

(6l.) The security of the wicked, and the confidence of the 
believer, have a common basis in foresight — in the sense simply 
of seeing beforehand. The worldly-minded and voluptuous, in 
their projects of pleasure, say to themselves : " To-morrow shall 
be as this day ; " Isaiah, lvi. 12 ; and the foolish man in the 
parable says to his soul : " Thou hast much goods laid up for 
many years." Luke, xii. 19- The believer takes " no thought 
for the morrow," knows that " the morrow shall take thought 
for the things of itself," Matt. vi. 34; and feels confident that 
neither *' things present, nor things to come, shall be able to 
separate him from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our 
Lord." Rom. viii. 38, 39. 

(62.) " It is the glory of God to conceal a thing." Prov. 
xxv. 2. He could not communicate to us beforehand the inten- 
tions of his Providence, and give us means to penetrate them. 
He has therefore restricted human foresight within very narrow 
bounds : " Man's goings are of the Lord ; how can a man then 



NOTES TO BOOK IV. 2G9 

Understand his own way ? " xx. 24. " Boast not thyself of 
to-morrow ; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth." 
xxvii. 1. 

(63.) One of the traits of poetic and prophetic song put into 
the mouth of the prophet Balaam, belongs to all prophecy : " I 
shall see him, but not now ; I shall behold him, but not nigh." 
Numb. xxiv. 17. 

(64.) All that is prophetic in the Bible, with the exception of 
a very few expressions, is poetic ; not only rhythmical and 
metrical (a much disputed question of grammar and philology, 
which is beyond the sphere of our subject), but poetic in style, 
abounding in figures of speech, apostrophes, comparisons, per 
sonifications, and allegories. Such are the prophecy of Noah^ 
Gen ix. 25 — 27 ; the benedictions of Jacob, xlix. ; the predic- 
tions of Balaam, Numb, xxiii, xxiv. ; the benedictions of Moses, 
Deut. xxxiiij the reproaches of Samuel to Saul, 1 Sam. xv. 22^ 
23 ; all the Psalms containing prophecies ; and lastly the books 
of the prophets, with the exception of Jonah, Daniel, and parts 
of the three last prophets, who wrote after the captivity. The 
purely historical passages in the writings of the prophets, and 
especially some narratives inserted in the books of Isaiah and 
Jeremiah, present a striking contrast with the colouring of the 
prophetic portions. Inspiration often weighed so heavily on the 
genius of the sacred writers, that the language of the most sublime 
poetry hardly sufficed to express their feelings : " Mine heart 
within me is broken because of the prophets (when I have felt 
the presence of the Lord, and heard the decrees of his justice) ; 
all my bones shake : I am like a drunken man, and like a man 
whom wine hath overcome." Jer. xxiii. 9- ct I went in bitterness 
(in trouble and agitation), in the heat of my spirit ; but the hand 
of the Lord was strong upon me" (the arm of the Lord sustained 
me). Ezek. in. 14. " O Lord, I have heard thy speech, and 
was afraid . . . when I heard, my belly trembled ; my lips 
quivered at the voice : rottenness entered into my bones, and I 
trembled in myself." Hab. iii. 2 — 16. We see that here, so to 
speak, all is natural even in the supernatural itself. (See Book VI. 
Chap. lxx. note 78.) 

(65.) Such are the promises made to Abraham, the condemna- 
tion pronounced by Moses against the generation which had come 
out from Egypt, the judgments of Nathan against David, and of 
Elijah against Ahab, the deliverances announced by Isaiah to 
Hezekiah, the incessant threats of Jeremiah, and of Ezekiel, 
against Zedekiah and the Egyptian party at his court, and nu- 

N 3 



270 NOTES TO BOOK IV. 

merous other prophecies, the limits of whose fulfilment did not 
exceed one generation. 

(66.) Several declarations of Christ on the suhject of his 
miracles strongly favour this idea : "If I had not done among 
them the works which none other man (none of the old prophets) 
did, they had not had sin:" but they have seen them. John, 
xv. 24. It is evident that the strength of this censure against the 
contemporaries of the Gospel rests, not so much on the greatness 
of the Messiah's miracles, as on the fact that they were performed 
in the midst of them, and before their eyes. " And if I by Beel- 
zebub cast out devils," said Jesus to the Pharisees, " by whom 
do your children cast them out ?" Matt. xii. 27 j Luke, xi. 1Q ; 
" your children," that is, my apostles and disciples, men still 
young, and who in their boyhood attended your schools, and 
received instruction from you, the teachers of the people. By 
this direct argument, Jesus refers his adversaries to the testimony 
of their own eyes. 

(67.) The distinction between the faith accepted from others, 
and the faith admitted without any intermediate agent, is fully 
recognised by the Gospel ; it is in a spirit of praise that St. John 
relates of the inhabitants of Sychar, that a many of the Samaritans 
of that city believed on him (Jesus) for the saying of the woman" 
who had seen him at the well, " which testified, He told me all 
that ever I did. So when the Samaritans were come unto him, 
they besought him that he would tarry with them : and he abode 
there two days. And many more believed because of his own 
word ; and said unto the woman, Now we believe, not because 
of thy saying ; for we have heard him ourselves." John, iv. 
39—42. 

(68.) This special aim, too often forgotten, explains why 
Jesus, who in so positive a manner appeals to his Divine works 
as the guarantee of the divinity of his mission, on other occasions 
reproaches the Jews with their eagerness to see signs, and ob- 
stinacy in only believing on this condition, and refuses to perform 
miracles when they demand them. " Except ye see signs and 
wonders, ye will not believe," said he to the nobleman of Caper- 
naum, John, iv, 4S ; and in the same spirit of censure St. Paul 
writes to the Corinthians : i( The Jews require a sign." 1 Cor. 
i. 22. " The Pharisees, also, with the Sadducees, came, and, 
tempting, desired him that he would show them a sign from 
heaven." Matt. xvi. 1. So little was this a demand of faith, 
that Jesus " sighed deeply in his spirit," and said, (t Why doth 
this generation seek after a sign ? Verily I say unto you. there 
shall no sign be given unto this generation." Mark, viii. 12. 









NOTES TO BOOK IV. 271 

On another occasion he treats as (i an evil and adulterous ge- 
neration " those who thus dared to summon him to display his 
power, Matt. xii. 39 ; Luke, xL 29 ; and of Nazareth it is said, 
" and he did not many mighty works there, because of their 
unbelief," Matt. viii. 58, at which "he marvelled" (was indignant). 
Mark, vi. 6. 

The whole point is explained by the single reflection, that the 
faith which is only produced by the sight of miracles is a cold 
and proud adhesion of reason, and not an humble and loving ad- 
hesion of the soul ; it is to believe, but to believe perforce, not 
voluntarily, and without love, without repentance, without confid- 
ing trust, without effusion of heart. Christ, who read all hearts, 
avoided exciting this sterile faith, and so carefully, that he in 
some sort refers his adversaries, who demand miracles from 
him, to that of his resurrection ; and in the meantime desires that 
they should allow themselves to be touched by the holiness and 
purity of his morality, and repent, and by the wisdom of his 
doctrine, and meditate on it. It is in this sense that he cites to 
them, as terms of comparison, the parable of Jonah, believed by 
the people to be a real fact, and the glory of Solomon, of which 
the Jews were so proud : " There shall no sign be given to it (to 
this generation), (< but the sign of the prophet Jonah ; for as 
Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale's belly ; so 
shall the son of man be three days and three nights in the heart 
of the earth." This expression, mysterious at the moment to his 
hearers, postponed, so to speak, their obstinacy and enmity, then 
invincible, to the time when the resurrection of Christ should 
vanquish that of so many others. " For as Jonas was a sign unto 
the Ninevites, so shall also the son of man be to this generation. 
The queen of the south (of Sheba, in Arabia) shall rise up in the 
judgment with this generation, and condemn them ; for she came 
from the utmost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon ; 
and behold, a greater than Solomon is here. The men of Nineve 
shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall con- 
demn it : for they repented at the preaching of Jonas (without 
seeing miracles) ; and behold, a greater than Jonas is here." 
Matt. xii. 38 — 42. Luke, xi. 2.9—32. 

(69.) Our Divine master fully admits, in the sense indicated, 
the connection between the outward fact of the miracle, and the 
value of the relgious and moral blessings and instruction which it 
diffused : i( For whether is easier," he asks of the Pharisees, 
ce to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee ; or to say, Arise, and walk ? " 
And after having in vain awaited a reply, he adds : " But that ye 
may know that the Son of Man hath power on earth to forgive 

N 4 



&7& NOTES TO BOOK IV. 

sins, (then saith he to the sick of the palsy). Arise, take up thy 
bed," in sign of thy cure, <( and go into thine house." Matt. ix. 
5, 6 ; Mark, ii. 9 ; Luke, v. 23. 

(70.) To the defenders of this definition of miracles, we need 
only put all the questions on the knowledge of nature addressed 
by the Divine voice to Job : " Who hath laid the measure there- 
of (of the earth), if thou knowest? " (Hast thou regulated the 
dimensions of the world, and knowest thou them ?) Job, xxxviii. 

5. 24. " . . . the host of heaven cannot be numbered, neither 
the sand of the sea measured. . . ." Jer. xxxiii. 22. " The 
heaven for height, and the earth for depth, is unsearchable." 
Prov. xxv. 3. 

(7 1.) The idea that God cannot retract or belie himself was ne- 
cessarily found in the Scripture. cc God is not a man, that he 
should lie, neither the Son of Man that he should repent." 
Numb, xxiii. 19- " . . . shall their unbelief make the faith of 
God without effect ? " Rom. iii. 3. 

(72.) li And the Lord caused the sea to go I ack by a strong east 
wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters 
were divided." Ex. xiv. 21. " . . . thou shalt smite the rock," 
in sign of my will, (i and there shall come water out of it." xvii. 

6. ' ' Then Jesus arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea ; and 
there was a great calm." Matt. viii. 26 ; Mark, iv. 39 ', Luke, 
viii. 24. Jesus said to the fig-tree : <c Let no fruit grow on thee 
henceforward forever." Matt. xxi. 19; Mark, xi. 14. 

(73.) " Then said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead. 
. . . Martha the sister of him that was dead, saith unto him, 
Lord, he hath been dead four days." John, xi. 14. 39- "* • • 
a man which was blind from his birth." ix. 1. " For the man 
was above forty years old on whom this miracle of healing was 
showed," Acts, iv. 22, and was " lame from his mother's womb." 
iii. 2. ". . . a certain woman, which had an issue of blood 
twelve years, and had suffered many things of many physicians, 
and had spent all that she had, and was nothing bettered, but 
rather grew worse . . ." according to the testimony of Mark, v. 
26, and of Luke, viii. 43, who had himself been a physician. 
Col. iv. 14. (See Book II. Chap. xxi. and the notes.) 

(74.) Hence no miracle could take place without the knowledge 
of the Divine messenger : " And the whole multitude sought to 
touch him : for there went virtue out of him, and healed them 
all." Luke, vi. 19. But " Jesus said," in the midst of the 
crowd : " Somebody hath touched me : for I perceive that virtue 
is gone out of me.'' viii. 46. ". . . knowing in himself that 
virtue had gone out of him . . ." Mark, v. 30. 

(75.) Thus, when shortly before his passion and crucifixion 



KOTES TO BOOK IV. 273 

Jesus uttered aloud, before his disciples and the multitude, these 
words of resignation : " But for this cause came I unto this hour. 
Father glorify thy name ; " when the thunder resounded, and the 
Divine voice replied : " I have both glorified it, and will glorify 
it again," it is said, that among the "people that stood by and 
heard it, some said that it thundered : others said, an angel spake 
to him." John, xii. 27. 29. We here see, placed side by side, 
the two aspects of the same event : to faith, it appeared a Divine 
miracle ; to incredulity, an ordinary phenomenon. 

(76.) Moses, in the wilderness of Mount Horeb, at the sight 
of the burning bush attentively examined the miracle : " And 
Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why 
the bush is not burnt ; " Ex. iii. 3 ; and came back as the de- 
liverer and legislator of Israel. Elijah, in this same wilderness; 
Elisha, on the banks of the Jordan ; St. Paul on the road to 
Damascus, are all examples of these dispensations. 

(770 It * s sa ^ °f Moses, that he was cc mighty in words and in 
deeds, * Acts, vii. 22 ; and of Christ, that he was " mighty in 
deed and word before God and all the people," Luke, xxiv. 19; 
and these passages contain an exact and simple summary of the 
two Divine missions ; works and words are in both alike in- 
separable : and those who have endeavoured to separate them have 
entirely failed. 

(78.) There are three distinct periods of miracles in the sacred 
annals : that of Moses and Joshua ; that of Elijah and Elisha ; 
and that of the Gospel ; and each of these has its distinguishing 
characteristics. 

The miracles of the Mosaic epoch are of admirable grandeur, 
although borrowed from the phenomena, the contagions, the 
natural powers of the soil and climate : we see that their aim is 
to effect, as it were by a single stroke, an immense change in the 
spirit of a degraded race, to change slaves into citizens, to awaken 
them from the moral and religious apathy into which a terrible 
bondage had plunged them, to purify their minds from Egyptian 
symbolism, so propitious to idolatry, and to establish their re- 
ligious nationality, unique in the world. 

" For ask now of the days that are past, which were before 
thee, since the day that God created man upon the earth ; and 
ask from the one side of heaven unto the other, whether there 
hath been any such thing as this great thing is, or hath been 
heard like it ? Did ever people hear the voice of God speaking 
out of the midst of the fire, as thou hast heard, and live? Or 
hath God assayed to go and take him a nation from the midst of 

n 5 



274 NOTES TO BOOK IV. 

another nation, by temptations (trials), by signs and by wonders, 
and by war, and by a mighty hand, and by a stretched out arm, 
and by great terrors, according to all that the Lord your God did 
for you in Egypt before your eyes ? " Deut. iv. 32 — 34. 

It was necessary that these miracles should be thus striking, 
in order that they might fill the neighbouring nations with terror: 
' f And as soon as we heard these things/' said Rahab to the spies 
of Joshua, " our hearts did melt, neither did there remain any 
more courage in any man, because of you; for the Lord your God, 
he is God in heaven above, and in earth beneath." Josh. ii. 11. 

The miracles of the second period ; less striking and less ex- 
tended in their effects, have a more local, more partial, character; 
are, so to speak, more Israelitish ; they are proportioned to an 
Ahab, as those of Moses were to a Pharaoh. Their aim was, 
not to vanquish the obstinacy of the Nile, or to curb the pride 
of the Jordan, but to confound the schools of false prophets, to 
send back the idol Baal to Tyre and Sidon, and to encourage the 
schools of Israelitish prophets. These miracles, compared with 
those of the preceding epoch, were performed as it were in a 
family, and their end was attained if the people cried out, in 
spite of their king, '" The Lord, he is God." 1 Kings, xviii. 39. 

The miracles of the Gospel period differ essentially from those 
of the old covenant, and are remarkable for their simplicity and 
mercy. They are all, almost without exception, cures, deliver- 
ances, blessings ; and a word, a gesture, a look or touch sufficed 
to work them ; we see that Jesus felt no surprise at them himself, 
and that his greatest miracles appeared to him perfectly natural ; 
in this there is a character of divinity which it is impossible not 
to admire ; and Christ himself has declared that the wonders of 
his mission were greater than those of any of the ancient pro- 
phets : "■ If I had not done among them the works which none 
other man did." John, xv. 24. 

(79-) " If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will 
they be persuaded though one rose from the dead." Luke, xvi. 31. 
" He casteth out devils," said the adversaries of Christ, t( through 
the prince of the devils." Matt. ix. 34 ; xii. 24; Mark, iii. 22; 
Luke, xi. 15. "Woe unto thee, Chorazin ! woe unto thee, 
Bethsaida ! for if the mighty works which were done in you, had 
been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago 
in sackcloth and ashes ... or in Sodom, it would have remained 
until this day." Matt. xi. 21. 24 ; Luke, x. 13. 

(80.) The interest, the emotion, the involuntary and irresistible 
admiration produced in the mind by the history of the life and death 
of the Saviour, greatly contribute to make the Gospel a unique book, 



NOTES TO BOOK IV. 275 

to which none other in the world bears even a distant resemblance, 
and this interest is especially remarkable when excited in the 
minds of the indifferent, the sceptical, or the incredulous; it began 
at the foot of the cross ; the Roman centurion who kept guard 
there was the first unbeliever who felt and candidly expressed it : 
" Certainly this was a righteous man." Luke, xxiii. 47. 
" Truly this was the son of God." Matt, xxvii. 54; Mark, xv. 39. 

(81.) In the midst of the humility of his baptism, as of the 
glory of his transfiguration, the Divine voice installs or confirms 
him in his office of the Messiah by the solemn consecration : 
" This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased ; hear ye 
him." Matt. iii. 17 ; xvii. 5 ; Mark, i. 11 : ix. 7 ; Luke, iii. 22 ; 
ix. 35. "Ought not Christ," said he to himself, "to have suffered 
these things, and to enter thus into his glory ?" Luke, xxiv, 26. 
"And declared to be the Son of God by the resurrection from the 
dead." Rom. i. 4. He did not expect or hope that his Divine 
glory, such as it was manifested in his transfiguration, would be 
believed in before his resurrection : " Tell the vision to no man," 
was his injunction to the three witnesses of this sublime scene, 
"until the Son of Man be risen again from the dead." Matt. xvii. 9 ; 
Mark, ix. 9. " For we see Jesus, who (for a time) was made a 
little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned 
with glory and honour. . . . For it became him, for whom all 
things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto 
glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through 
sufferings." Heb. ii. 9, 10. " Though he were a son yet learned 
he obedience by the things which he suffered,'' v. 8 ; ". . . who for 
the joy that was set before him, endured the cross." xii. 2. He 
said himself : c ' Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay 
down my life;" and he laid it down voluntarily: "No man 
taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself : I have power to 
lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command- 
ment (mission) have I received of my Father," John, x. 17? 18; 
and it is especially through his death that he is victorious over 
evil in the world : " That through death he might destroy him 
that hath the power of death." Heb. ii. 14. 

(82.) This assertion, which leads to the important and pleasing 
thought, that we need to know Jesus in the character of our 
Saviour and not in any other; not in his Divine glory, beyond 
the sphere of the world and of time, before his mortal life ; not 
even in his nature, incomprehensible and ineffable, but in his 
salutary mediation — this assertion will be proved to any one 
who will weigh, without dogmatical prejudice, the two passages 

n 6 



276 NOTES TO BOOK IV. 

of the Gospel, in which all that the human mind may see of this 
mystery is revealed. 

In the first, Christ speaks of himself : " The Jews answered 
him, saying, For a good work we stone thee not, but for blasphemy; 
and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God.'' How 
far, then, does Christ unveil his divinity > He replies : (t Is it 
not written in your law" (that is, in the Old Testament; John, 
xii. 34; xv. 25 ; 1 Cor. xiv. 21, in a passage directed against 
unjust judges), " I said (I, the Lord, who is represented as 
speaking to these judges), ye are Gods;" Ps. lxxxii. 6; I the 
Lord have thus named you in the law ; Ex. xxii. 28 : and having 
thus reminded his hearers of the title given in the Scripture to 
the magistrates of Israel, Jesus adds : ' f If he called them gods, unto 
whom the word of God came, and the Scripture cannot be broken; 
say ye of him, whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into 
the world, Thou blasphemest ; because I said, I am the son of 
God?" John, x. 33. 3d. 

The second passage is one of St. Pauls : " Who (Jesus), being 
in the form of God, (that is, comparable to God ; the expression 
' in the form of God' has no meaning in our language, and as the 
word translated form signifies image, figure, resemblance, we give 
the correct sense ;) thought it not robbery to be equal with 
God (did not take advantage of this to assume to be equal with 
God) ; but made himself of no reputation . . . humbled him- 
self, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. 
"Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a 
name which is above every name ; that at the name of Jesus 
every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, 
and things under the earth ; and that every tongue should confess 
that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." 
Phil. ii. 6. 11. 

The most luminous commentary on these two passages of 
Scripture, is to be found in the Epistle to the Corinthians : " For 
though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in 
earth (as there be gods many and lords many), but to us there 
is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in 
him ; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and 
we by him." 1 Cor. viii. 5, 6. (See Book VI. Chap, lxxvii. 
note 104-.) 

(83.) (See Book III. Chap. xxxi. note 18). And it is a remark 
worthy of great attention, that Christ returns to this name of 
brother even after his glorious resurrection ; he says to Mary 
Magdalen, " Go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend (I 
shall soon ascend) unto my Father, and your Father ; and to 



KOTES TO BOOK IV. 271 

my God, and your God." John, xx, 17 ; Matt, xxviii. 10. Thus 
our brotherhood with Jesus is immortal. 

(84.) Jesus himself said, " I do always those things tliat 
please the Father. Which of you convince th me of sin," or un- 
truth ? John, viii. 29- 46. He was " the Holy One and the 
Just." He was the heavenly man, that is perfect, such as God 
created him. 1 Cor. xv. 47. He "knew no sin;" that is, he 
committed none. 2 Cor. v. 21. Our "advocate with the Father" 
is " Jesus Christ the righteous." 1 John, ii. 1 ; 1 Peter, iii. 1 8. 
" In him is no sin." 1 John, iii. 5. He " was in all points 
tempted like as we are, yet without sin," Heb. iv. 15 ; perfect 
through sufferings," ii. 10; "being made perfect." v. Q. "Who 
did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth." 1 Peter, 
ii. 22 ; Isaiah, liii. 9. (See the following note.) 

(85.) According to the texts of Book I. Chap. x. note 39, 
man is created in the image of God : according to those of 
Book I. Chap. xm. note 51, the aim of his life is more and 
more to assimilate himself to his Creator ; according to those of 
Book IV. Chap. xli. note 2, Christ is the image of God ; and 
according to those of the preceding note, Christ is the perfect 
man : the last link in this chain of ideas, which comprehends 
the whole of Christianity, is the imitation of Christ by man. 
Texts on this point abound. 

Jesus laid down the principle in a general sense : after citing 
the proverb, " Can the blind lead the blind ? shall they not both 
fall into the ditch?" he adds, " The disciple is not above his 
master," and does not aspire to surpass him; "but every one 
that is perfect shall be as his master." Luke, vi. 39, 40. 

After the Last Supper, he washed the feet of his apostles. 
This was one of the customary duties of the ancient hospitality 
of the East, 1 Tim. v. 10 ; and Christ desired to inculcate, by 
this symbolic action, that true charity, far from egotistically 
seeking for pre-eminence and honours, forgets none of the duties, 
not even the most humble, which may contribute to the welfare 
of a fellow-man : " For I have given you an example," says he 
to his apostles, " that ye should do as I have done unto you." 
John, xiii. 15. 

" But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit." 1 Cor. 
vi. 17« "Now if any man have not the spirit of Christ, he is 
none of his." Rom. viii. 9. " And walk in love, as Christ also 
hath loved us." Eph. v. 2. " Let this mind be in you, which 
was also in Christ Jesus." Phil. ii. 5. "... walk worthy of 
the Lord ..." Col. i. 10. 

" And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, 



278 NOTES TO BOOK IV. 

even as he is pure." 1 John, iii. 3. " He that doeth righteous- 
ness is righteous, even as he is righteous." iii. 7. " He (Jesus) 
laid down his life for us : and we ought to lay down our lives 
for the brethren/' iii. 16. " Herein is our love made perfect 
, . . because (if) as he is, so are we in this world." iv. 17« 
" . . . leaving us an example, that ye should follow in his steps." 
1 Pet. ii. 21. And Jesus not only set an example of duties 
towards man, but of duties towards God : " My meat (my 
strength, my life) is to do the will of him that sent me, and to 
finish his work." John, iv. 34 ; vi. 38. And not only in life 
is it our duty to imitate Jesus ; we should imitate him also in 
death. St. Paul proposes to himself, as the triumph of his faith, 
and the crowning of his love for the Gospel, counting " all things 
as dung" that he "may win Christ," to be made " conformable 
unto his death," Phil. iii. 8. 10; death, which was on Christ's 
part, as it should be on ours, an act of submission : " he became 
obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." ii. 8. And 
we must not imagine that this obedience did not cost him a 
struggle ; even before his prayer on the night of his agony, he 
acknowledged that it did : " I have a baptism to be baptised 
with, and how am I straitened till it be accomplished." Luke, 
xii. 50. This resemblance between Christ and his disciples, in 
order to be the equivalent and re-establishment of the primitive 
resemblance between man and God, could not cease with this life ; 
it is perpetuated in resurrection and immortality. The apostles 
" preached through Jesus the resurrection from the dead." Acts, 
iv. 2. " Who died for us, that, whether we wake (whether we 
live), or sleep (or are dead), we should live together with him." 
1 Thes. v. 10. Christ is represented as " the first-fruits of them 
that slept." 1 Cor. xv. 20. "... he which raised up the Lord 
Jesus, shall raise up us also," 2 Cor. iv. 14; and already "ye 
are (as) raised with him through the faith of the operation of 
God, who hath raised him from the dead." Col. ii. 12. "It is 
a faithful saying : For if we be dead with him, we shall also live 
with him ; if we suffer, we shall also reign with him." 2 Tim. 
ii. 11, 12. "... when he shall appear, we shall be like him, 
for we shall see him as he is." 1 John, iii. 2. 

(86.) St. Paul writes to the Corinthians : "Be ye followers 
(imitators) of me, even as I also am of Christ," 1 Cor. xi. 1 ; 
and to the Ephesians, " Be ye, therefore, followers of God, as 
dear children," Eph. v. 1 ; that is, " put on the new man, which 
after God is created in righteousness and true holiness," iv. 24 ; 
and " which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that 
created him." Col. iii. 10. 



NOTES TO BOOK IV. 279 

(87.) " And we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only 
begotten of the Father " (glory such as that of the only begotten 
son of the Father should be). John, i. 14. Who can doubt 
that this glory always would have been what it should be ? 

A proof of this assertion, if proof were necessary, may be 
found in the presence of mind displayed by Christ in his hours 
of suffering, and which has not, we think, generally been suffi- 
ciently admired. His charity, his magnanimity, his resignation, 
have done injustice, if we may so speak, to that calm and serene 
firmness which rendered him master of himself to the end, and 
gave him strength, in the midst of the horrors of agony and 
death, to think, even in the smallest details, of the moral and 
religious utility of his death. This admirable presence of mind, 
especially exhibited by one circumstance, would alone suffice to 
show that the exterior circumstances of redemption did not sway 
the Redeemer, but on the contrary were subject to him. 

While on the cross, " Jesus cried with a loud voice, My God, 
my God, why hast thou forsaken me ? " Matt, xxvii. 46 ; 
Mark, xv. 34. The words are the commencement of the 22nd 
Psalm ; and surprise has been expressed that Christ, so shortly 
before expiring, should have thought of making a quotation. 
The opinion, that in this exclamation he gave expression to an 
inward, subjective, and real feeling which he experienced, does 
not bear analysis : what is it to be forsaken of God ? What is 
the basis of the idea ? How can the Infinite Being forsake any 
of his creatures ? How would this be reconcileable with his 
omnipresence, everywhere the same ? The creature may forsake 
the Creator, that is, may forget him, go farther from him, become 
dissimilar to him ; this may be conceived both by reason and 
faith, and is proved by experience ; but in the idea that God can 
forsake his creatures, reason and faith can only see the expression 
of a human image. It is contrary to the essence of the Supreme 
Being ever to separate himself from intellectual, moral, and reli- 
gious beings. The 22nd Psalm contains two descriptions ; one, 
that of a righteous man suffering under terrible persecution, and 
calling God to his aid : the other that of the same man delivered, 
after ardent prayers, from his troubles, and filled with gratitude 
and joy. Whether this poem, in the original intention of its 
author, referred to David, who, however, was never the object of 
a persecution and a deliverance so extraordinary as those here 
described ; or to the Jewish nation personified, groaning under 
the yoke of the kings of Babylon, or at a later period of the kings 
of Syria, and delivered by Cyrus or by the Maccabees, is to us 



280 NOTES TO BOOK IV. 

but of little importance ; for it is impossible to deny, that many 
of the most striking traits of this elegiac poem apply with an 
accuracy, not certainly literal and descriptive, but poetic and 
figurative, to the scenes of the crucifixion. John, xix. 24. Now 
the Psalms were the favourite devotional book among the Jews ; 
they recited them incessantly; they knew them by heart; and 
it is one of the best known phenomena of memory, that on hear- 
ing the first words of any fragment or poem with which the 
mind is well acquainted, the whole instantly recurs to it. It is 
therefore in our opinion beyond a doubt, that in citing this com- 
mencement of the 22nd Psalm, Jesus desired, before expiring, 
to recall it to the attention of the witnesses of his crucifixion. 
Therefore it was, that in spite of the agonies of a punishment 
which made the tongue swell, and dried up the palate, he cried, 
according to the testimony of the two Evangelists, with a loud 
voice ; therefore it was, that he uttered these words, not in ancient 
Hebrew, but in the modified Syro-Chaldaic dialect, then the only 
one familiar to the people. Jesus thus desired to effect two 
blessings at the same time : to warn his adversaries and enemies, 
and bring them to repentance by compelling them to recognise in 
themselves the blind fulfillers of the prophecies of the old cove- 
nant and of the designs of God ; and to console his friends, and 
fortify their hope and faith, by reminding them of the approach- 
ing accomplishment of the promises of deliverance and triumph. 
It is impossible not to be penetrated with the deepest admiration 
of this presence of mind at such a moment ; it offers a striking 
proof that the Redeemer was master of his work, even to the 
smallest details of its execution. 






281 



BOOK V. 

METHOD OF REVELATION. 






We are In no sort judges by what methods and in what proportion it 
were to be expected that this supernatural light and instruction would 
be afforded us. — Butler, Anal, of Eel. Part II. ch. iii. 

Non verbum e verbo, sed sensum exprimere de sensu — non assidere 
litterss dormitanti — sed quasi captivos sensus in suam linguam victoris 
jure transponere. — St. Hieron. Ad Pammachium, Ep. 101. 



CHAP. LII. 

CHRISTIANITY NOT A SYSTEM OF INSTRUCTION. 

A Christ supposes a Christianity ; a redemption des- 
tined for a race of beings subject to the law of social 
compact must become an institution, so that a Christianity 
supposes a Christendom. (1) 

Christianity is only redemption in the form of a 
theory. 

Christendom is redemption in the form of a social 
institution. 

Both the theory and the institution are necessarily 
based upon written revelation — the Gospel. 

One great and fatal error has proved deeply injurious 
to Christianity, and from the time of its prevalence has 
vitiated the institution which emanated from it — the 
church, which ought to have been the channel of making 
the theory into practice. 



282 CHRISTIANITY 

Christianity has been considered and treated in some 
measure, as if it were a system of instruction. 

Attacked in its origin by ancient philosophy, long 
infatuated by the love of its own science, and attacked 
some time afterwards by idolatry, which had recourse 
to reasoning in self-defence, Christianity became at 
length so learned and logical that it ended in being 
considered as a system of instruction. 

Christianity, however, is not a system of instruction ; 
it is much more and much better ; it is an awakening, 
an appeal, a principle of life, a means of progress, a 
return towards God. (2) 

Had it been merely a system of instruction, it would 
have been addressed to the intellectual powers alone ; 
and the proof that it is something much more than a 
means of knowledge, the proof that it is an element of 
life, is, that it addresses itself to all our tendencies, and 
to all equally, without sacrificing any ; its object is to 
embrace the whole human being — to regenerate and 
thoroughly to sanctify man. (3) 

It does not only teach truth to the understanding \ it 
gives it, displays it, guarantees it, and causes it to be 
cherished. (4) 

It does not teach virtue to the moral powers ; it de- 
termines what is good ; it draws such a picture of good- 
ness, as the mind accepts without hesitation ; it abolishes 
all doubts of conscience, which are more painful than 
those of reason. (5) 

It does not teach love ; it is an incentive to love. (6) 

It does not teach happiness ; it discloses and dis- 
penses it. (7) 

And, above all, it does not teach God; it makes us 
feel God within us ; it makes us conscious and cognisant 
of his presence. (8) 



NOT A SYSTEM OF INSTRUCTION. #83 

To reduce Christianity to a system of instruction, is 
to take a part, and a smaller part, for the whole. 

The Gospel itself, therefore, furnishes the proof that 
theology is not religion. 

Thus he who, by the assistance of the Gospel, con- 
tents himself with knowing, is ignorant of the Gospel ; 
in order to comprehend it, he must live by its rules. (9) 

That which constitutes the Divine life in man, the life 
of the return towards God — the life in which the re- 
semblance of the Creator is reflected with an increasing 
clearness and brilliancy, is the sanctification, not of this 
or that faculty or tendency at the expense of the rest; 
but the sanctification of the whole man. (10) 

Does it follow, then, that the Gospel contains no dog- 
matics- — nothing doctrinal ? This would have been to 
overlook the interests of one of the tendencies, and to 
alienate reason from faith ; this would have been to 
annihilate our redemption, which only applies to reason- 
able beings. 

What proves the justice of the important remark, 
that instruction or dogmatics is not the essence of Chris- 
tianity, is the method of teaching which is employed in 
the Gospel. 

The method is obviously such, that the Gospel never 
teaches in order to instruct; knowledge, therefore, ac- 
cording to the Gospel, is only a means and not an end. 

This method consists either in rendering truth objec- 
tive, palpable, visible in facts ; 

Or in announcing truths as certain without discussing 
them; 

Or in presenting truths under the form of axioms ; 

Or, finally, in reserving them. 



284 TRUTHS DETERMINED 



CHAP. LIII. 

TRUTHS DETERMINED BY FACTS IN THE GOSPEL. 

The truths shown objectively — and laid down, so to 
speak, in facts, are few in number, and are recognised 
by this token, that this means was the only one of con- 
veying these ideas to contemporaries. 

It then becomes evident, that the object was not so 
much to give a thorough comprehension as to effect 
persuasion ; these facts, then, entered into the class of 
miracles, and served the same purpose ; they commenced 
the faith in a certain order of truths. 

Among this number, the resurrection occupies the 
first rank. 

Resurrection has nothing repugnant to, or discord- 
ant with our views of Christianity ; it is, as we have 
seen, a necessary and very simple circumstance of our 
existence, a natural development of our phase of pro- 
gress. But in the pagan ages, and so soon after the 
absolute reign of the materialist philosophy, which had 
found its way among the Jews — when Christianity was 
yet new born, resurrection without an objective and per- 
sonal proof of its reality, exceeded all belief. 

Death, too, thoroughly concealed life from all pre- 
judiced eyes, and the only guarantee of a resurrection, 
which would be credible, was, that one should be raised 
from the dead. 

Many have been led into a false path, both in faith 
and science, on this subject, by the idea that Christ was 
raised from the dead in order to prove immortality — a 
future life : he wished to prove more ; to demonstrate 
by this fact, the powerlessness of death ; he wished to 



BY FACTS IN THE GOSPEL. 285 

constrain the human mind to acknowledge, that death 
did not destroy identity, and, that what a man was be- 
fore the event, that would he be found after it. It was 
the survival of human identity, much more than the 
mere fact of immortality, which he wished to establish 
as a matter of fact, and to show it visible, palpable, and 
active, and living before those slaves of death, who be- 
lieved in its power alone. 

The doctrine of immortality was, without doubt, 
deeply concerned in this great trial of the power of 
death, because, identity apart, immortality is undeserv- 
ing of the name. A resurrection, however, not only 
made immortality itself, so to speak, objective, but ex- 
plained the end of this life, at the same time that it ex- 
plained the nature of the other ; it exhibited in its nudity 
the nothingness of death, the powerlessness of the tomb ; 
and, at the same stroke, it removed from the hope of a 
future life all that inappreciable vagueness, in which 
faith and reason are both so often lost together, by 
imagining to themselves an immortality which is scarcely 
of more value than death. (11) 

Among the truths demonstrated by facts, may be also 
placed the existence in the universe of other intelligent 
beings, moral and free, possessed of faculties of enjoy- 
ment, of affections, and of religious feelings, as well as 
man. 

There is no means of allegorising all that the Gospel 
says of angels, good or evil, of the relations which they 
have or have had with this world, and of the relations 
with them which await us in the next. 

Allegory, frequently is evident. (12) 

The reality often shows itself beside it with such 
clearness, that it is impossible to blot out demonology 
from the Gospel, to consider the question as a mere 



286 TRUTHS DETERMINED 






hypothesis of oriental philosophy, lying without the 
sphere of inspiration, and to maintain that on this sub- 
ject the sacred writers could only have spoken them- 
selves, and made Christ speak, according to their own 
light and knowledge. It is not, it is true, a matter of 
direct and subjective interest in religion. But the idea 
that the universe is a field of labour open to man alone, 
appears a notion as preposterous, that faith is happy to 
find refuge in the midst of legions of angels ; and the 
system of phases of progress receives from them an ex- 
tent of greatness, which fully demonstrates the truth of 
the existence of those spirits of light - — citizens of 
another world than ours. (See Book I. Chap, xv.) 

Even prayer is, in the Gospel, a truth of fact ; or, 
what is the same thing, a truth of practice — of senti- 
ment. The Gospel does not contain a single word of 
dissertation on this profound question ; prayer is ad- 
mitted as something natural to man ; it is given as 
necessary ; it is depicted in its consequences ; it is 
every where prescribed ; it is no where restricted ; it 
remains free as to its forms, its expressions, its language 
and its time, and never once becomes the subject of 
discussion; that which is discussed is how to pray — 
never the necessity of praying. 

The absence of all disquisitions on the problem of 
prayer is, perhaps, to a reflecting mind, the strongest 
proof that the Gospel is not, properly speaking, a sys- 
tem of instruction. (13) 

Christianity appeared in the world at a period when 
the question of the unity of the human race engaged 
very little attention ; and for this plain reason, that for 
a long time, man had acted as if the earth was tilled 
and disputed for by races without any common bond, 
and natural enemies to each other. 



BY FACTS IN THE GOSPEL. 287 

The question is important, because it is one closely 
connected with the principle of brotherhood and 
equality. 

The Gospel merely received the fact, as the first re- 
velations had consecrated it — merely regarded it as a 
fact, and touches the point incidentally. (14) 

The important question of secret doctrines — in which 
the whole truth is brought to the privileged alone, and 
where what is communicated to the multitude is the 
truth veiled and mutilated — this question is not dis- 
posed of in the Gospel, except practically. It is clear 
that the Gospel does not tolerate any differences of re- 
velation and teaching. The opposite system, — so 
flattering to pride, and so convenient for despotism, 
political or priestly, — that system to which the East 
has been indebted for its castes, and ancient Europe for 
its mysteries, possesses the enormous evil of systematizing 
and legitimating ignorance. There are, thenceforth, no 
motives for the abolishment of this ignorance ; and as 
man possesses nothing more precious than his thoughts, 
his conscience and his religious powers, it follows, that 
intellectual and religious privileges are the worst of all 
privileges ; they fetter progress in both senses ; among 
the people, by devoting them to hereditary darkness ; 
and among the initiated, by persuading them, that the 
degree of knowledge conferred by the nature of their 
institutions is sufficient. (15) 

The Gospel, which sets out from the principle of 
brotherhood and of equality, might have easily applied 
it to the knowledge of truth, and shown that this was 
a common right. It was, however, much better to 
overturn the bushel than to discuss the pretexts which 
had caused the light to be put under it. It was better 
from the very commencement to place every kind of 



288 TRUTHS TAKEN FOR GRANTED IN THE GOSPEL. 

teaching at the disposal and within the reach of all. 
In a case of acquiring and diffusing knowledge, entire 
freedom is the only system which is favourable to pro- 
gress : and the Gospel has with such gladness invited the 
world to follow that course, that it would be impossible 
to restrain its teaching without disguising it. 



CHAP. LIV. 

TRUTHS TAKEN FOB GRANTED IN THE GOSPEL. 

The truths which are regarded as certain in the 
Gospel are those which are absorbed in the infinite, and 
are so closely connected with it, that they can neither 
be reasonably disputed nor demonstrated, and are only 
known subjectively, or by faith. 

Of this kind are all truths concerning God, his at- 
tributes, creation, providence, free will, and immortality. 

x\nd why does the Gospel satisfy itself with regard- 
ing these truths as certain without declaring them so to 
be — without using any arguments for their confirma- 
tion — without appearing to take the least notice of the 
objections to which they have given rise among all 
people and in all ages? 

Because redemption takes all those fundamental 
truths for granted — without them every idea of re- 
demption would be a chimera; and revelation, therefore, 
which is the testimony of redemption, would be com- 
promised by discussing them. 

Wonderful thing, and, nevertheless, very simple ! 
The Gospel is full of these truths, and the Gospel is 
the religious book in which thev are least debated. 



TRUTHS PUT FORTH AS AXIOMS IN THE GOSPEL. 289 
CHAP. LV. 

TRUTHS PUT FORTH AS AXIOMS IN THE GOSPEL. 

The truths axiomatically taught in the Gospel are 
the most numerous, those which have the most im- 
mediate connection with progress, those which have 
always reduced human reformers to despair, or caused 
the ruin of their labours ; these truths are cognisable 
by an infallible and unique token : they are those 
which most nearly affect social and family interests. 

The principal questions of this class are : the con- 
stitution of a family, that of property, individual liberty 
and political order ; and, finally, suicide. 

Christianity found the world full of polygamy, and 
yet the Gospel does not contain a positive word against 
polygamy ; not a direct protest against its evils. (16) 

Paternal rights had not been less abused than the 
conjugal rights : a father, when it seemed good to him, 
became the absolute ruler of his children, as he had 
previously been of their mother ; the Gospel preserves 
an absolute silence upon the extent and limits of 
paternal authority. (17) 

Christianity found the rights of property constituted 
in a frightful manner in very many respects : in respect 
of succession — in respect of debts ; the Gospel does 
not stir the ashes under which this fire slumbers, but 
takes thingsas they were. (18) 

Christianity appeared at a time when personal liberty 
had no existence ; slavery, under the most varied and 
horrible forms, was the basis of the social order of the 
time ; and the men of greatest genius, of the most 
upright and generous minds, did not admit that it could 

o 



290 TRUTHS PUT FORTH 



have any other foundation. From the bondage — the 
lowest of all — of the gladiator and the captive, slavery 
ascended, so to speak, in such a manner, that each was a 
slave to some other; and yet the Gospel, that law of 
liberty, contains nothing against slavery, but, on the 
contrary, the slave is sent back to his master. (19) 

As to political order, Christianity was established in 
an age in which tyranny was the only form of govern- 
ment ; an age in which the aristocracies of Europe, and 
the castes of the East, those singular oriental aristocra- 
cies, bending before a superior despot, merely pressed 
the more heavily upon the classes subordinate to them- 
selves. The Gospel treated government as a question 
de facto, it declared it lawful merely upon the view 
of the image and superscription of the money ; and being 
contemporaneous with Tiberius and Nero, appears not 
to have desired to perceive, that these masters of the 
world were monsters. (20) 

The rights of the people, the law of nations, the 
rules of commerce, the competition of industry, the risks 
of navigation, the rights of war — none of those vital 
questions of social life, are touched upon by the Gospel, 
or find any place in its records. (21) 

Finally, in the age of the origin of Christianity, 
suicide was held in such honour that it had become 
of frequent occurrence, and had passed into the usages 
of private life ; it was no longer considered as an act of 
triumph, an act of courage, or a virtue ; it was a re- 
source, a solution, which marvellously simplified the 
problems of life. The Gospel says not a word on the 
subject. (22) 

The reason was, that an immediate and instantaneous 
solution of those plain questions, so immense and ter- 
rible in their nature, or even the awakening addressed 



the 



AS AXIOMS IN THE GOSPEL. £91 

to mankind, without treating the subject with precaution 
and prudence, would necessarily have involved the world 
in political and social revolutions, which advance their 
objects by means of bloody convulsions alone, in the 
midst of which religion can find no resting-place, or 
even footing. 

The majority of human reformers have split upon 
this rock ; they have conceived, and properly, that it was 
their duty to interest in their success all classes of men 
suffering oppression — slaves, captives, the poor, the 
destitute ; forgetting that by such a course, they raised 
up adversaries to their system far more powerful than 
all these allies. The issue has only too often proved 
the imprudence of a hasty application of principles 
which they ought to have allowed to slumber, of an- 
ticipations of progress which do not admit of being 
too rapidly matured. The resistance of the interests as- 
sailed, has often foiled and brought to nought the most 
noble reforms, and practice has proved too powerful 
for theory. 

In order to excuse or console those who have made 
such failures, it has been said, they came too soon ; men 
and ideas never come too soon, it is the realisation, on 
a great scale, which may be premature. (23) 

These human reformers have always been eager for 
success. Christ was not so. 

Hasty attempts at premature realisation, necessarily 
expose a new faith and a new religion to great dangers, 
by mixing itself up directly with all the false positions, 
prevailing evils, and prejudices of the moment ; and by 
attempting to counteract and obviate them without 
delay, religion is always forced to some concessions by 
which it is compromised, and which are afterwards 
imputed to it as a weakness. 

o 2 



%92 TRUTHS PUT FORTH 

The Gospel pursued a different course, it decided 
those questions axiomatically ; that is, to all those 
hereditary errors, those deeply rooted prejudices, and 
those ancient institutions, which general opinion re- 
garded as things indispensable, it opposed nothing but 
the spirit of Christianity itself — its ideas concerning 
God and man, life and immortality — its law of charity 
and love — its standard of perfection — its profound and 
irrefutable system of brotherhood and equality. With- 
out acting against those evils by open force, the Gospel 
cut them at the roots, and left them to fall softly to the 
ground: thus even guarding against the danger of rous- 
ing into antagonism or resistance, those who would lose 
by their fall. 

What family evils, what conjugal irregularities, what 
abuses of paternal authority, what rebellion against 
filial duties, are those which are not repressed and 
guarded against by Christian principles? To such an 
extent is this the case, that a departure from the usages 
and feelings of a family constituted on Gospel principles, 
is a relinquishment of Christianity. (24) 

The only constitution of property which Christianity 
consecrates, is that which is tempered by charity, in 
which property is considered as a stewardship by those 
who have, and a right by those who have not. 

According to Christianity, mankind forms but one 
great family, and it is the family and not the individual 
who is the proprietor ; the family, therefore, owes to 
each of its members, not an equal part (25), an impos- 
sible division which would involve the necessity of a 
constant reformation of society, and carries with it a 
negative of the law of differences, but a sufficient part, 
that is to say, food, shelter, clothing, and health (26), 
intellectual and religious education. (27) 



AS AXIOMS IN THE GOSPEL. 293 

!£very society in which this provision is not made, and 
every society in which a single member is destitute of 
those necessary elements of a social existence, either is 
not yet a Christian society, or has ceased to be so. (28) 

Individual liberty, the human and Divine illegality of 
slavery in all its forms, the exclusive and inviolable 
possession of each individual by himself, are principles 
so profoundly Christian, and so pre-eminently conse- 
crated by the Gospel, that their violation would, soon 
necessarily render Christian society impossible. 

Slavery is so anti-Christian, that to escape and eman- 
cipate ourselves from such a guilt of perdition, it is 
necessary sorrowfully to have recourse to anti-Christian 
measures. 

The illegality of all tyranny, whether of one or of 
several, and of all privileges — the chimera of the rights 
of birth, the injustice of an unequal division of family 
property — and all such questions of social order, cease 
to be doubtful from the moment the Gospel is called 
in to arbitrate and judge. There is always something 
anti-Christian in the religious pretexts by which at- 
tempts are made to protect and defend them. 

The best form of government is equally given by 
the Gospel; it is clear, that the Gospel is profoundly 
republican: it shows how little regard it has for the 
power of man, by the very fact of teaching its followers 
to submit themselves to the will of God. It constitutes 
progress an autocracy, and consequently prefers that 
man should in every thing be his own master; the 
maximum of individual liberty, consistent and recon- 
cileable with the general interest, is the object which 
the Gospel proposes. 

Whence, it follows, that political power, in all its 
gradations, is only, according to the Gospel, a means of 

o s 



294 TRUTHS PUT FORTH IN THE GOSPEL. 

order and peace; and, the more order and peace find 
means for self maintenance, the less political power 
ought to make itself felt in action. 

Whence it follows, again, that Christianity perseveres, 
and will persevere in the principle of rendering unto 
Caesar the things which are Caesar's, and ought not to 
put its higher principles and ends to hazard by mixing 
itself up with the revolutions of political bodies, or 
recommending republican forms of government. In- 
stead of founding republics and threatening monarchies, 
Christianity has a task of a very different and difficult 
kind to perform : it forms true republicans — that is, 
citizens always ready to sacrifice their own interests to 
the public well being, as Christians ought to be ready 
to sacrifice every thing for the promotion of the Gospel. 
When Christianity shall have sufficiently accomplished 
this work in the bosom of humanity, monarchial or 
republican forms of government will have become ques- 
tions wholly indifferent. 

The rights of man, according to Christianity, are only 
Christian charity in its largest scale ; it cannot be, that 
charity, which ought to constitute the sacred bond of 
social union amongst individuals, should not also per- 
form the same office amongst nations. 

Finally, suicide too finds its condemnations in the 
very essence of redemption, and in the definition which 
redemption gives of life. If life is the individual dura- 
tion of our phase of progress, no one has a right to cut 
off any part from his own. This is to refuse God the 
progress which he asks ; to abridge, not only life but 
redemption. He who arrests his progress, destroys it. 

Christianity is the first and only religion which has 
shown such an astonishing confidence in the power of 
truth, as to take the world as it found it without at- 



TRUTHS RESERVED IN THE GOSPEL. 295 

tacking any of its living powers ; it threw out truth, as 
it were, at hazard, like the invisible seed sown by the 
winds of heaven ; and foretold, that assuredly the seed 
would grow and increase and become a great tree, under 
the shadow of whose branches humanity would take 
refuge against all errors and all evils. 

CHAP. LVI. 

TRUTHS RESERVED IN THE GOSPEL.. 

Certain truths are reserved or avoided in the Gospel, 
not from any want of sincerity, but only because they are 
surrounded with a pale and uncertain clearness i Scrip- 
ture is designedly cautious. Inspiration has glanced at 
them, so to speak. These are questions which have 
been left doubtful intentionally, and the most ingenious 
exegesis, or the ablest critics, have never yet been able 
to show a positive and complete solution of them in the 
Gospel — a solution indisputable and undisputed. 

These questions are cognisable by two marks : first, 
that the Gospel could not omit them ; revelation was 
necessarily led to touch incidentally upon them. 

Secondly, that these truths are too mysterious ; that 
is to say, placed at such a distance beyond the extreme 
limit of reason, that our faculties would injure themselves 
by imprudently and imperfectly seizing upon them. 

These two criteria are so simple and sure, that the 
principal reserved truths are easily reckoned up : 
- What is the Divine nature of Christ ? He himself 
never speaks explicitly on the subject ; he never makes 
any allusion to his birth ; he never states, how he was 
born of God and came down from heaven; he never 
gives any account of the manner in which he laid aside 
his earthly body in ascending to God; he presents 

o 4 



296 TRUTHS RESERVED IN THE GOSPEL. 

himself and positively declares himself to be Emanuel; 
he assumes, in all its Divine import, the unique title of 
the Son,' but in the very passages in which his divinity 
is most clearly expressed, the veil which covers the 
mystery of his nature is immediately let down, and the 
astonished look of faith sees nothing but Jesus. 

In what does the union of soul and body consist? 
The Gospel, as we have said, admits the spirituality of 
the mind ; man, according to the Gospel, is not only an 
immortal being, he is a mixed being; and this distinction 
between the soul and the body is one while indicated, 
at another understood. The nature of the bond which 
unites them, and which constitutes the actual pheno- 
menon of life, the actual means of progress, is always 
passed over in silence. (29) 

Does all relation cease between the living and the 
dead? Have the dead, or, to speak more correctly, 
the inhabitants of heaven, any knowledge of the lot 
or condition of the inhabitants of earth? Are there 
any secret communications between this phase of pro- 
gress and the following one; or is the interruption of 
all knowledge and of all friendship complete from the 
time in which the gates of the tomb are closed ? The 
question is left undecided in the Gospel, either in one 
way or the other; revelation has delivered it over 
wholly to the provinces of reason and faith (30), and 
this explains why imagination has worked it so much. 

When will the end of the world be ? that is — when 
will the present phase of progress come to a close? 
Among reserved questions, this is one of which human 
activity might have made a most dangerous, a most 
immoral, and a most impious use. So much abuse has 
been heaped upon absurd and preposterous prophecies 
relating to the end of the world, that it is easy to see 



TRUTHS RESERVED IN THE GOSPEL. 297 

how fatal positive predictions on this subject would 
have been. Christ has reserved the question so tho- 
roughly and expressly as to declare, that he himself 
was ignorant of that day and that hour. (See Book II. 
Chap, xxiv,, and Book VI. Chap, lxxv.) 

What will be the organisation of the human body 
after this life ; the nature of the risen body, the nature 
of the new clothing with which resurrection will invest 
us, and will serve to reconstitute our identity ? On this 
question the Gospel proceeds by way of exclusion and 
promise of amelioration, which is eluding the difficulty 
in order to avoid the dangers of the subject. The 
Gospel sometimes states in what the future organisation 
will differ from the present ; and, more openly still, it 
depicts in broad features the superiority of the one 
over the other. This was sufficient to throw light on 
the subject, and the question is elsewhere evaded so as 
to be impossible to determine from revelation whether 
any one of our senses will remain to us or not. (31) 

Shall we recognise each other in a future life, and 
the relations of the present be resumed ? At first sight, 
it may seem strange that this question is not explicitly 
resolved in the Gospel. It is so as regards both reason 
and faith, by the certainty of identity. How shall we 
recognise ourselves, if we cannot recognise those whom 
we have loved ? The Gospel, however, contains not a 
single word to throw light upon the question, and it is 
easy to understand the grounds of this reserve; the 
Gospel could not have gone further, without giving, 
especially to the contemporary generations, information 
which they could but ill have, comprehended concerning 
the state of the wicked in another life, their relations 
to the good, and even the relations of the virtuous 
towards one another. There would have been great 

o 5 



£98 TRUTHS RESERVED IN THE GOSPEL. 

danger of seriously compromising our phase of progress, 
by raising any question about the punishments of the 
wicked, of materialising in idea the relations and af- 
fections of heaven, and changing Christian immortality 
into a Mahometan paradise. The history of sects has 
proved how necessary it was to guard against these 
dangers, so imminent for minds so material and carnal, 
as those of the contemporaries of the Gospel generally 
were, as well as of those who were first to be converted ; 
and when we consider what the Theresas and St. 
Francis d' Assises have made of the love of God and of 
Christ, it is impossible too strongly to admire this 
reserve and this silence on the part of revelation. Far 
from furnishing an aliment to mystical imaginations 
concerning this subject, which would have only been 
poison to the soul, the Gospel has scarcely raised a 
corner of the veil, which death alone can lift. (32) 
(See Book I. Chap, xvi., and Book VI. Chap, xxvu.) 

"What is the nature of angels? (33) On this subject 
the Gospel is mute, to the extent of commonly desig- 
nating angels by their functions and their names of 
honour ; and even sometimes as young men. (34) With 
respect to demons or bad angels, the Gospel explains 
itself still less positively ; and it is very remarkable that 
its language is often much more allegorical on the sub- 
ject of superior beings fallen from their holiness, than 
when it speaks of spirits which have remained pure. (35) 
The horrible errors into which the demonology of the 
middle ages fell, and which are yet far from being ex- 
tirpated, are sufficient proofs how necessary it was not 
to give any plausible pretexts to impure and unholy 
imaginations. Between the impossibility of saying 
nothing or of saying everything, revelation has said the 
least possible, and guarded itself against becoming the 
involuntary accomplice of superstition. 



TRUTHS RESERVED IN THE GOSPEL. £99 

Thus the Divine character of the Christian revelation 
is rendered obvious by what it did not say, as well as by 
what it did. All those counterfeits of revelations which 
have deceived mankind may be recognised by this 
curious mark, that upon certain subjects they say too 
much, whilst upon others they do not say enough. 
Revelation alone, when placed in the balance with the 
tendencies of our nature, finds itself in perfect equi- 
librium with them, and teaches the human mind only 
what it ought to know. 

One important remark remains to be made. It by 
no means follows, from the fact of these problems having 
been avoided in the Gospel, that it is either impossible 
or forbidden to examine them. It is not the examina- 
tion of these questions that revelation desired to pre- 
vent ; its object only was, that upon those matters, the 
human mind should not be able to come to too ready a 
conclusion, to prevent these notions from becoming 
popular in a false sense. A certain solution of them 
by inspiration would have been accompanied by dangers ; 
the discussion of them is not so. "Whence, it follows, 
that individual faith may, without anxiety, devote itself 
to the examination of these grave and curious subjects ; 
and if the study of them is well directed, there will 
always remain, whatever belief a man may arrive at, 
some lingering obscurity or uncertainty which will be 
a safeguard against danger. 

And it is precisely because revelation has not decided 
them, that these questions may be debated with more 
freedom, and offer a neutral ground on which philosophy 
and faith may meet, or from which they may retire at 
pleasure. 



o 6 



300 DEVELOPMENT AND 



CHAP. LVII. 

DEVELOPMENT AND LIMIT OP REVELATION. 

The nature of the only proofs which comport with re- 
velation — prophecies and miracles — and the classifica- 
tion, which we have just made, of revealed truths, ac- 
cording to their degrees of clearness, lead to four im- 
portant conclusions, which throw great light on the 
questions relative to the method of Holy Scripture. 

I. Revelation must have proceeded by periods, ad- 
vanced by degrees, and often remained interrupted for 
intervals of various duration. The testimony of reve- 
lation has been differently given at different times, 
and the Divine voice has prescribed to itself times of 
silence. (36) 

Prophecies were of no value as proofs till near the 
time of their fulfilment, and in order that inspired pre- 
science might not be confounded w r ith ordinary foresight, 
a long interval must have frequently transpired between 
the time of the prophecy and that of its realisation. 
In this interval, moreover, revelation might have been 
suspended ; precautions were taken, and the duty of 
faith was to wait with patience ; truth can always be 
patient. 

The object of miracles always was to commence faith, 
and not to continue it ; it therefore became necessary, 
after a period filled with signs and wonders, to leave faith 
for some time to itself; it was necessary that faith should 
sustain and nourish itself by its great recollections, and, 
by transmitting them, believe on the word of preceding 
generations of men ; and these apply to firmness and 






LIMIT OF REVELATION. 301 

perseverance in religious hope, the principles of social 
union, and the duties which it imposes. 

These gradations in revelation — these total or partial 
eclipses of the Divine light, were measured according to 
necessity, according to the direction of the religious 
powers in different ages. 

The light of the body is the eye, but the light is 
always dispensed according to the feebleness of the 
organ and the need of clearness. 

Finally, this tardiness of revelation, these degrees 
in the effusion of Divine thought — these accommoda- 
tions of the spirit of God to the spirit of man, had their 
cause concealed in that vigilant care which God seems 
always to have imposed upon himself, not to restrain 
man's free will; and we must never forget, that the 
effect of too much revelation would be to destroy free 
will. 

II. Revelation must have been for some time tra- 
ditional. (37) Faith took its origin in the period of 
miracles ; it was continued by tradition. 

Tradition became both its means and its proof. 

Its means : the hereditary teachings of tradition 
maintained the knowledge of the truth. 

Its proof: all traditional faith is difficult, and is only 
sustained by a respectful, faithful, and willing at- 
tention. 

Then, again, the law of social union interposes with 
all its sanctity ; it is by virtue of this law alone that 
traditional faith is possible. 

III. Revelation must often have been written. (38) 
It was to run through and fill ages ; human memory is 
not constituted to keep so many ages present : it had to 
consecrate a multitude of various teachings ; human 
memory is still less made for the details and complica- 



302 DEVELOPMENT AND LIMIT OF REVELATION. 






tions of theories : and lastly, it had to vary its morality 
according to different ages; commands and precepts 
readily escape human memory. 

Moreover, traditions are gainsayed ; writings are not; 
at least it is necessary to set about doing so in a different 
manner. 

Finally, the proof of prophecies required and indi- 
cated a publication of revelation. 

It was necessary to establish the priority of the oracle 
to the event, of the promise to its realisation ; and the 
written record alone offered a means sufficiently rigor- 
ous — sufficiently beyond all dispute — sufficiently 
above all suspicion. (39) 

IV. As a last trait, the singular idea presents itself, 
that revelation must sum up and bring itself to a close 
— cause its last words to be pronounced, or last line to 
be written, which could not be followed by any other ; 
trace the word, End ! at the termination of one of its 
pages. (40) 

As regarded the promise of redemption, the an- 
nouncement of a Redeemer, revelation stopped of itself, 
after having attested the accomplishment of salvation, 
the coming, presence, and work of the Saviour (41), and 
his farewell to our world. 

As regarded his miracles, the matter became ex- 
hausted of itself, because miracles necessarily ceased 
after the establishment of faith in human religious- 
ness. 

Thus, by the very nature of things, revelation, tra- 
ditional or written, must have come to a close : inspira- 
tion ceased to descend from heaven, and the human 
mind entered again under the ordinary laws of pro- 
vidence, and into the ordinary conditions of progress. 

This was not done till redemption was complete. 



PROOFS OF REVELATION. 303 

The phrase — it is finished, was a necessary phrase 
in redemption. 

Whence, it follows, that any revelation, traditional or 
written, which proclaims itself to be continuous, is an 
error or a deception. Matter is wanting for a revela- 
tion when redemption is accomplished and confirmed. 

And here, again, we have merely laid open to view 
one of the aspects of the care which God always takes 
to leave us free ; human freedom could not properly 
consist with a continuous revelation. 

With revelation, too, every thing which served for 
its guarantee necessarily came to a close ; all extraor- 
dinary faculties and gifts, prophecies and miracles, 
which were proofs of the inspiration, and ceased with it : 
this idea is in perfect accordance with the principle, that 
the object of miracles was to lay a foundation for the 
commencement of faith. They were destined to give 
it birth, they could not, therefore, serve to promote its 
progress ; the continuation and multiplicity of these 
wonders would have been a restraint imposed upon 
liberty, and a dispensation in religious matters from the 
duties which the law of social union imposes ; children 
would have been brought up in Christianity by mira- 
cles, instead of by lessons. (42) 



CHAP. LVIII. 

CRITICAL APPLICATION OP THE PROOFS OP REVELATION. 

At this point of our work we must pause for a short 
time, in order to show with what ease and justness 
these principles may be applied to the Bible, as the 
line is laid to the field, of which we desire to estimate 
the harvest. 



304 CRITICAL APPLICATION 

Many opportunities will necessarily present them- 
selves of showing, how faith may, without risk, dispense 
with exegesis. It will suffice to recall two facts, which 
all the boldness, all the discoveries, all the subtleties of 
criticism, have never been able to shake. 

First, that the Jewish people believed themselves to 
be the people of God, a chosen nation — the deposi- 
tories of a great religious hope ; that this idea, this 
expectation constituted the whole life, and their intel- 
ligence, morality, and faith ; and that this life, so com- 
pletely different from all the other nationalities of anti- 
quity, breathes in the Old Testament, from Moses to 
Malachi. 

Secondly, that a Christian society was established, 
eighteen centuries ago, in the midst of the Eastern 
world, and still more in the midst of the Greek and 
Roman world of that period, by reading, from meeting 
to meeting, as books certain and sacred, the books 
which at the present day still contain the Christian 
revelation ; the Old Testament at first (43), and on 
their passing beyond the traditional period, the collec- 
tion of the New Testament Scriptures, according as it 
was formed. 

In a word, what we at present call the Old Testa- 
ment, with the traditions, laws, ordinances, rites, poetry, 
and morality, which it contains — all this has caused the 
Jewish people from age to age to proclaim to an as- 
tonished and scoffing world — I wait ! And so true is it 
that they so said, that by giving attention we still occa- 
sionally hear them make the same declaration. 

And what we call the Gospel, at a later period formed 
a Christian society, which resuming the publication of 
the truth where the preceding people had left it, said to 






OP THE PROOFS OP REVELATION. 305 

a world still more surprised and disdainful : I wait no 
longer, all is finished! 

But, what do we find in the Old Testament? All 
that the nature of God and of man demand in a revela- 
tion : periods of traditional revelation — and periods of 
written revelation ; records of prophecies and their ex- 
pected fulfilment : periods of miracles, and of faith left 
to itself; a complete literature, having inspiration for 
its basis ; gradations admirably regulated ; every where 
the impress of the contemporary age, man every where, 
and God when necessary. 

This Jewish encyclopedia, from which the Jews drew 
everything, this single book in the world, was suited to 
its readers. It declares itself to be Divine, and it pro- 
fesses to proportion its lessons to the mental reach of 
the Israelites, and only to show them what they are 
able to see. If it is only the product of enthusiasm, 
whence comes it that it never exaggerates ? 

Finally, this book proclaims itself to be Divine but 
not final ; it assumes to be a revelation, but a prepara- 
tory revelation, the forerunner of something better. 
Thus, this book came naturally to an end, and came to 
a close when the necessary preparatives of redemption 
were completed by the decisive overthrow of idolatry ; 
when the Jewish people were no longer afraid of con- 
tact with paganism, when they could walk among idols 
and preserve their faith. Everything was then finished 
upon Sion ; it remained for all to be so elsewhere. 

The second volume of Revelation loses nothing in 
being put to the same test ; it is a revelation equally 
natural, so to speak. 

Between the events of redemption themselves, and 
the books to which they were consigned for the use of 
posterity, a traditional period intervened ; there was 



306 PROOFS OF REVELATION. ^ 

the Gospel without the gospels, and the church without 
the Epistles, and we have seen that such was the natural 
order. 

Scarcely had the necessity of a written record of the 
revelation of redemption made itself felt, when it was 
written ; this necessity arose as soon as the memory of 
the facts became too much scattered, as soon as the im- 
pression of examples became too weak. 

Hence, the double aspect of Christian revelation, pro- 
perly so called: books of history which contain the 
facts, and books of theory which, under the form of let- 
ters, present a faithful application of the examples, a 
faithful development of the principles in action. 

Both the historical and theoretical books are stamped 
with a seal of genuineness which cannot be effaced. 

The historical books are the writings of men who 
strove to remember and record the events with fidelity ; 
why ? obviously because their design was to substitute 
a written for a traditional revelation. 

The epistolary books are the writings of men who 
strove to apply the principles involved in the Gospel, to 
the real and incidental circumstances in which they 
were called into action ; they localised, and, so to 
speak, personalised redemption. 

The authors of the New Testament knew well, that 
by making the first generation of Christians, they made 
all successive ones. Everything depended on the com- 
mencement. They struck the rock, the living water 
burst forth and still continues to flow, furnishing drink, 
not to those who look at the stream, but to whomso- 
ever comes to draw from it. 



PECULIARITY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT. 307 

CHAP. LIX. 

PECULIARITY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT. 

An important remark remains to be made, which will 
explain the character of extreme peculiarity which the 
Old Testament presents. 

Redemption by its very nature is universal. (See 
Book III. Chap, xxx.) 

It follows, from this principle, or, to speak more 
exactly, from this fact, that the first announcement of 
redemption, which, as we have shown, was made, fore- 
told, and promised, was general (See Book III. Chap. 
xxxii.) ; this promise belonged to the whole family of 
man, it had nothing in its origin either peculiar or 
special, (44) 

It is true, that in the course of time, and in every 
case, redemption would have come to be national and 
special ; this was necessary, inasmuch as the Redeemer 
was to be a man, and redemption a human event — an 
event of which this world was to be the theatre. (See 
Book III. Chap, xxxi.) The accomplishment of re- 
demption, however, ought to be and could be so arranged 
as to take away in no respect from its generality. 

In its present form, which is that of accomplishment, 
or of an institution, in its Christian form, redemption 
has nothing special or particular ; it is in no respect 
national, or, if we prefer the phrase, it is nationalised 
everywhere. (45) 

From these considerations there results this important 
conclusion, that dating from the period of Abraham, 
everything is — episode, and everything is accident in 
revelation. 



308 PECULIARITY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT. 

Before Abraham there is not the slightest trace of 
particularism. (46) And why has Providence had re- 
course to these extreme means, which necessitated the 
constitution of the descendants of this great man, into 
the people of God, that is to say, into a people, which 
was to become the depository of religious truth: — a 
constitution which was the work of Moses, and which 
influenced the accomplishment of redemption to such 
a degree, that this people made God speak in their 
own language, and expected for ages that the Redeemer 
should be one of themselves ? 

The problem involves a solution : it was necessary to 
have a depository prepared for the preservation of reli- 
gious truth, till the moment in which redemption could 
be manifested. 

The Mosaic system was merely a resource. 

In the very nature of things, therefore, and for the 
promotion of redemption itself, almost the whole of the 
Old Testament was accidental and transitory ; it was a 
revelation, but a circumscribed revelation ; whence, it 
follows, that its importance is infinitely less than that 
of the Gospel. (47) 

Should we then overlook the Old Testament, and, as 
it were, blot it out from the contents of Divine revela- 
tion ? To forget the old would be soon to forget the 
new, seeing that it would render the former incompre- 
hensible (48), and the latter incredible. In the old 
there would be no longer any meaning, and thence- 
forward the new would possess no credibility. 

Is a vestibule built in front of a temple in order to 
be destroyed when the temple is finished ? No, but 
that it may lead as a passage into the main building. 
The error consists in stopping there, and mistaking it 
for the sanctuary. 



PECULIARITY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT. 309 

To this may be added, a just admiration inspired by 
the poetic and moral beauties scattered through the 
books of the Old Covenant, and the utility of the prac- 
tical lessons which they afford. 

What would have been the condition of mankind had 
particularism not become necessary to redemption ? 
What should we have found in the ages of antiquity, 
had there been neither Abraham nor Moses? And 
what would revelation have been, had it not been 
Jewish ? Mankind in general would have found them- 
selves in the same situation in which the Jewish people 
was in particular ; as Israel expected — the whole race 
would have expected. 

It was known at first that the Redeemer would be a 
man, it was afterwards known he would be a Jew ; in 
short, all that was known of him beforehand may be 
summed up in these two points ; and, from the parti- 
cular idea of his citizenship as a Jew, to the general idea 
of his character as a man, the expectation undergoes no 
change. 

At the fit moment, redemption would have been 
easier had it not had to disengage itself from the 
bonds of Mosaic particularism, and to divest itself of 
a national colouring so peculiar and distinct as that of 
Judaism. (49) 

Is this to diminish the task of Abraham and Moses, 
or to tarnish the brightness of their glory ? Is it not 
rather to heighten it, for it is to show that these extra- 
ordinary men, as well as their emulators and succes- 
sors, saved religious truth from shipwreck, and rendered 
redemption possible? (50) They gained a victory over 
error as great and as decisive as their age and their 
powers allowed. According to the imagery of the 
patriarch's dream, Israel, struggling with God, could 



310 SUMMARY AND 






only go halting after his imperfect victory. It is the 
Christian alone who, according to the energetic expres- 
sion of the Gospel, comes forth from the struggle more 
than conqueror. 

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION ON REVELATION. 

It has been seen that redemption robs none of those 
to whom it is offered of their free will ; for by doing 
violence to freedom of choice, redemption would run 
counter to the very end which it aims at attaining, and 
render us incapable of gathering its fruits. What the 
fact of redemption itself could not occasion, revelation, 
the mere testimony of redemption, cannot do ; man 
remains free in presence of redemption to choose or to 
reject it ; man, in presence of revelation, remains free to 
cultivate or neglect it. These two freedoms, in fact, 
resolve themselves into one ; and, as regards revelation, 
all this is equivalent to saying, that it never has been, and 
is not still anything but an instrument of knowledge and 
sanctifi cation granted to man for his use, that each gene- 
ration has employed it in its time, well or ill, and trans- 
mitted it, with more or less fidelity, to its successors. 

In this point of view, it becomes of extreme import- 
ance to sum up the discoveries and definitions of Chris- 
tianity so denned on the subject of revelation. 

1 . Revelation is the testimony of redemption ; the 
Divine testimony of an Emanuel and his work ; the 
human testimony of a brother and his life. 

2. The idea of Christ being a corollary to the idea of 
God ; revelation is the history of the idea of God, or of 
true religion amongst men. 

3. God, watching over the spiritual as well as over 
the physical, has watched over religion ; whence, it 






CONCLUSION ON REVELATION. 311 

follows, that revelation is the providence of God written 
out by man, and for man. 

4. In providence, the meeting of the two activities, 
that of God and that of man, being continuous, it 
follows, that they adjoin everywhere in revelation, and 
that it is impossible to draw any definite line of separa- 
tion between them ; what is from God, and what is of 
man, in revelation, are therefore necessarily mingled. 

5. Inspiration, the means of revelation, could not 
reach the human mind except through the channel of 
human faculties. 

6. Inspiration was necessarily limited by freedom of 
choice left wholly uncontrolled, by reason left to its own 
work, by the insufficiency of human language, inferior 
to human thought. 

7. Scientific truth is not found, and could not be 
found, in revelation, which contains errors of fact in 
matters of science. 

8. Poetry, whose images cannot be literally rendered, 
is the common style of inspiration. 

9. Whether poetic or not, the expression, although 
of a precision always proportioned to its end, is always 
purely human. 

10. The expectation of a Redeemer having constituted 
the religious, moral, and intellectual life of the people 
to whom salvation was foretold, it follows that revela- 
tion constituted its literature. Revelation, therefore, in 
its form was Jewish, always Divine as a testimony, but 
always human as a literature. 

11. The authority and authenticity of the books of 
Holy Scripture, or of the different parts which con- 
stitute the whole of such and such books, depend less 
on the names of the authors than on the place given to 
those books in the canon, and the period of their inser- 
tion. The author, in every case, is the Jewish people. 



312 SUMMARY AND 

12. Finally, revelation, in its gradual development, 
is always, as to its forms, of the age in which it was 
written. 

From these principles and these facts, is deduced the 
fundamental rule for understanding the Scriptures : 
the Bible is not revelation, but revelation is in the 
Bible. (51) 

This rule alone raises the Bible to its true elevation, 
and compels us to assign to it these three characteristics, 
which, as a sacred book, it ought to present to the 
attention of the world — that of being the only uni- 
versal book — the only inexhaustible book — the only 
irrefutable book. 

The Bible is the universal book. 

If revelation is in the Bible, who is to seek it there ? 

Every one ; and every one ought to be able to find 
there his revelation ; that is, the evidence of his re- 
demption, an evidence which suffices for his progress — 
his salvation — his return towards God. (52) 

If the Bible is absolutely a sealed book to a single 
man ; if a single man, without some fault of his own, 
searches there in vain for the portion of light of which 
his soul has need ; if a single man, opening his ear, 
does not hear the voice of God which speaks there, 
redemption is not universal, because its evidence is 
not so ; which would be at once anti-Divine and anti- 
human. 

To deny the universality of the Bible, or what 
amounts to the same, its sufficient clearness for each, is 
not to deny revelation, but redemption. 

The Bible is the only inexhaustible book. 

It is natural that revelation should be incapable of 
being exhausted by the human mind, notwithstanding 
its human form ; it is because it participates in the 



CONCLUSION ON REVELATION. 313 

infinite from which it emanates; it would be the work 
of man if man could completely fathom its depth. This 
characteristic, therefore, is one of those which prove the 
Divine origin of revelation. (53) 

It is necessary to admit that it is inexhaustible, not 
only because science is far from having said its last word 
upon the whole, upon the contents and the form of the 
sacred books ; and because it is impossible to foresee 
when the time will arrive at which it can be said, the study 
of the Bible is finished ; but above all, it is inexhaustible 
for piety, for faith, for practical influence and applica- 
tion ; and it is of small consequence that science always 
finds matter to dispute, provided religiousness always 
continues to find matter for progress. (54) 

This proceeds from two causes : first, from the fact 
that revelation, as we have just seen, contains and 
presents truth sufficient for mankind, and that truth is 
necessarily inexhaustible. 

Next, the form which truth adopts in the Bible, 
permits its being tested more and more ; in addition to 
that which is said, there is always an immense depth of 
meaning understood, into which faith and reason may 
plunge without fathoming its depth. 

Finally, the Bible is the only irrefutable book (55), 
in as much as refutations affect merely the form, — and 
as long as the books are admitted to be a revelation — 
that is, the testimony of redemption. The essence is^ 
always safe, if, in conceding that the Bible is not reve- 
lation, it is admitted that revelation is in the Bible. 

This principle fully acquits sacred criticism of any 
blame ; it follows, that it is applied only to the human 
portion of the Bible: — it refutes man. And of what 
consequence is that? It does not refute God. 

The Bible, commented upon as a whole, is the object 
p 



314 CONCLUSION ON REVELATION. 

of faith; commented on in detail, it is the object of 
science. 

The line of demarcation between the whole and the 
details, between faith and science, varies according to 
the individual ; and this line every true Christian em- 
ploys his life in tracing. 

In the different relations pointed out, the following 
contains the historical and rational division of the Bible. 

1 . The period anterior to Abraham ; universalism 
and tradition ; mankind, the people of God. 

2. The period of Abraham: institution of particu- 
larism ; a family, a chosen race. 

3. The period of Joseph ; an attempt to return to 
universalism by the fusion of the religious element — 
Israel, and the intellectual element — Egypt ; an at- 
tempt which was put a stop to by the progress of 
idolatry. 

4. The period of Moses and Joshua ; establishment 
of a national particularism. 

5. The period of the judges ; heroic and federal times 
of Israel, in which the law was left to itself. 

6. The period of David and Solomon — monarchy ; 
an endeavour to maintain religious unity by political 
unity. 

7. The period of the prophets ; struggle against 
idolatry, by the pre-eminence given in religion to the 
moral element above the ceremonial element. 

8. The period of the captivity of Babylon ; decided 
fall of idolatry. 

9. The period of the restoration of Israel; pure 
theism, and a silent expectation of the Messiah. 

10. The Gospel and redemption. 



315 



NOTES TO BOOK V. 



(1.) " Which (the church) is his body." Eph. i. 22 ; Col. 
i. 24. " Ye are the body of Christ." 1 Cor. xif. 27. And 
St. Paul plainly inculcates that the law of reciprocity was what 
rendered a church, a society, a communion of believers indis- 
pensable, when he says : " So we, being many, are one body in 
Christ, and every one members one of another." Rom. xii. 5. 

(2.) " Reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, 
but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord." Rom. vi. 
11. "... that they which live should not henceforth live unto 
themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again." 
2 Cor. v. 1 5. "... nevertheless 1 live ; yet not I, but Christ 
liveth in me." Gal. ii. 20. 

(3.) " The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a 
woman took and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was 
leavened." Matt. xiii. S3; Luke, xiii. 21. ". . . for all things 
are yours ; whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or 
life, or death, or things present, or things to come, all are yours ; 
and ye are Christ's ; and Christ is God's." 1 Cor. iii. 21, 22, 23. 
"... as having nothing, and yet possessing all things." 2 Cor. 
vi. 10. " Godliness is profitable unto all things." 1 Tim. iv. 8. 
" For to me to live is Christ . . ." Phil. i. 21 ; Col. iii. 4; "I 
can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me." Phil, 
iv. 13. " Finally, brethren; whatsoever things are true, what- 
soever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever 
things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things 
are of good report ; if there be any virtue, and if there be any 
praise, think on these things." Phil. iv. 8. 

(4.) " Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the king- 
dom of heaven " (the reign of truth). Matt. v. 3. When the 
seventy disciples returned to Jesus to relate the first triumphs of 
his doctrine over the hearts of men, he "rejoiced in spirit, and 
said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou 
hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast re- 

p 2 



316 NOTES TO BOOK V. 

vealed them unto babes : even so, Father ; for so it seemed good 
in thy sight." Luke, x. 21. 

(5.) ec But seek ye first the kingdom of God (the true 
Christian religion), and his righteousness ; and all these things 
shall be added unto you." Matt. vi. 33. Christ has said : 
i( Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I 
will give you rest ... ye shall find rest unto your souls. For 
my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." Matt. xi. 28 — 30. "... 
his commandments are not grievous." 1 John, v. 3. And to 
all the prayers and fears of our weakness, the Lord replies : " My 
grace is sufficient for thee." 2 Cor. xii. 9- " For if there be 
first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, 
and not according to that he hath not." viii. 12. 

(6.) " All things work together for good to them that love 
God." Rom. viii. 28. " For this is the love of God, that we 
keep his commandment." 1 John, v. 3. 

fS We know that we have passed from death unto life, because 
(when) we love the brethren." 1 John, iii. 14. " Beloved, if 
God so loved us (in redemption), we ought also to love one 
another." iv. 11. " Let all your things be done with charity " 

1 Cor. xvi. 14. 

"... Love one another : for he that loveth another hath ful- 
filled the law." Rom. xiii. 8. " For all the law is fulfilled in 
one word, even in this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." 
Gal. v. 14. " If ye fulfil the royal law (the principal law) 
according to the Scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as 
thyself, ye do well. . . . For he shall have judgment without 
mercy that hath showed no mercy ; and mercy rejoiceth against 
judgment" (but mercy has the glory of preventing condemna- 
tion). James, ii. 8 — 13. 

(7«) " Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: 
not as the world giveth, give I unto you." John, xiv. 27. " Be 
careful for nothing : but in every thing by prayer and supplica- 
tion, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto 
God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, 
shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." Phil, 
iv. 6, 7. " Godliness with contentment is great gain." 1 Tim. 
vi. 6. 

(8.) " That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith." Eph. iii. 
17. " One God and Father of all, who is in you all." iv. 6. 
"But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts." 1 Peter, iii. 15. 
" Know ye not that ye are the temple of God?" 1 Cor. iii. 16; 

2 Cor. vi. 16. 

(9.) " If (since) ye know these things, happy are ye if ye 



NOTES TO BOOK V. 317 

do them." John, xiii. 17. " For if any be a hearer of the 
word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his 
natural face in a glass : for he beholdeth himself, and goeth his 
way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. 
But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth 
therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, 
this man shall be blessed in his deed." James, i. 23 — 25. (See 
Book VI. Chap. lxxi. note 83.) 

(10.) " And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly : and 
I pray God your whole spirit, and soul, and body, be preserved 
blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." 1 Thes. 
v. 23. 

(11.) (See Book I. Chap. xv. note 57*1 Chap. xvi. note 6l.) 
Immortality is so deeply interested in the questions relative to 
the resurrection, that St. Paul often uses the two words as syno- 
nymous ; and throughout the whole of his admirable exposition 
of the certainty of a future life, in the Epistle to the Corinthians, 
he connects the two ideas so closely as to render them, if not 
identical, at least inseparable. " How say some among you that 
thete is no resurrection of the dead ?" This is his starting point, 
and from it he proceeds to prove eternal life. 

(12.) (See Book I. Chap. xv. note 55' ; Book V. Chap. lvt. 
notes 33 and 35.) Some expressions are doubtful, and make it 
difficult to decide between the literal and allegorical sense ; such 
are the two passages in St. Paul's Epistle to the Galatians : "But 
though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other Gospel 
unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be 
accursed." Gal. i. 8. " Ye received me as an angel of God, 
even as Christ Jesus." iv. 14. But the first texts to which this 
note refers are positive. 

(13.) (See Book II. Chap. xxv. notes 39—49.) It is the 
more remarkable that the Gospel does not touch, even by the 
most distant allusion, upon the metaphysical problem of prayer, 
as Jesus himself points out, in his sermon on the mount, the 
fundamental objection which incredulity or erroneous faith in- 
cessantly makes to the duty and happiness of prayer: "Your 
Father knoweth what things ye have need of before ye ask him." 
Matt. vi. 8. 

(14.) Genesis had taught that God created a man and a 
woman, Gen. v. 2 ; and St. Paul says : " God hath made of one 
blood all nations of men. . . ." Acts, xvii. 26. " One God and 
Father of all." Eph. iv. 6. The same idea is expressed in the 
Epistle to the Hebrews, in the same indirect manner, as a simple 

p 3 



318 NOTES TO BOOK V. 

premise to an argument : " For every house (every family) is 
builded by some man; but he that built all things is God/' 
Heb. iii. 4. 

{15.) The apostles, far from being allowed to consider the 
private instructions of their Divine master as addressed to them 
alone, received from him this command, which was at the same 
time an encouragement : " What I tell you in darkness, that 
speak ye in light : and what ye hear in the ear, that preach ye 
upon the house tops." Matt. x. 27. 

(16.) (See Book III. Chap, xxxvi. notes 62 and following.) 
This silence on the subject of polygamy is the more remarkable, 
as the question of the duties of husband and wife, even in the 
case of mixed marriages, that is, where one was a Christian and 
the other a Pagan, is often touched upon, and that of the pre- 
eminence of the husband and the submission of the wife clearly 
determined. Polygamy is only attacked indirectly. " The woman 
which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so 
long as he liveth." Rom. vii. 2. " The wife hath not power of 
her own body, but the husband : and likewise also the husband 

hath not power of his own body, but the wife The 

unbelieving (Pagan) husband is sanctified by the (Christian) wife, 
and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband." 1 Cor. vii. 
4 — 14. " So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies.'' 
Eph. v. 28; Col. iii. 1 9. "That they (the aged women) may 
teach the young women to love their husbands, to love their 
children." Titus, ii. 4. " Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with 
them according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife. . . ." 
1 Pet. iii. 7. " For the husband is the head of the wife. . . . 
Let the wife see that she reverence her husband." Eph. v. 23 — 33. 
" Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as it is fit 
in the Lord." v. 22 : Col. iii. 18; 1 Peter, iii. 1. 

In matters of religion, in doubts and scruples, the Gospel 
requires, that wives should show the same deference to their 
husbands : <( And if they will learn anything, let them ask their 
husbands at home." 1 Cor. xiv. 35. te But I suffer not a woman," 
says St. Paul, " to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, 
(in matters of religion,) but to be in silence" on these subjects. 
1 Tim. ii. 12. 

This superiority on the one part, and deference on the other, 
formed part, according to the Gospel, of the design of the Creator, 
as is shown by the priority of creation. " He (the man) is the 
image and glory of God : but the woman is the glory of the 
man. For the man is not of the woman ; but the woman of 
the man : neither was the man created for the woman, but the 



NOTES TO BOOK V. 319 

woman for the man." 1 Cor. xi. 7 — 9. " For Adam was first 
formed, then Eve." 1 Tim. ii. 13. 

St. Paul, moreover, speaks against those impostors " speaking 
lies in hypocrisy, . . . forbidding to marry/' 1 Tim. iv. 2, 3 : 
and this he could do without contradicting his warnings on the 
dangers and troubles of marriage in times of persecution ; warn- 
ings and counsels given, he says, because of " the present dis- 
tress ;" (as, at the time of the fall of Judaea, God for the same 
reason forbade Jeremiah to marry ; Jer. xvi. 2.) 1 Cor. vii. 26. 
In the Epistle to the Hebrews we find this exhortation : ie Let 
marriage be honourable in all, and the bed undefiled," Heb. xiii. 
4 : so that even when imposing on every one, and especially on 
unmarried persons, respect for marriage, the Gospel is silent on 
the subject of polygamy. 

(17.) It is said: '"'Children, obey your parents in the Lord, 
for this is right ; " and the precept in the Decalogue : " Honour 
thy father and thy mother" is recalled to mind with the remark, 
" which is the first commandment with promise," to which this 
promise is attached : " that it may be well with thee, and thou 
mayest live long on the earth." Eph. vi. 1, 2 ; Col.iii. 20. To 
fathers it is said, " And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to 
wrath, lest they be discouraged ; but bring them up in the nur- 
ture and admonition of the Lord." Eph. vi. 4 ; Col. hi. 21. The 
right of chastising children is indirectly recognised : " What 
son is he whom the father chasteneth not ? " Heb. xii. 7* 
These passages only speak of paternal tenderness and filial obliga- 
tions, and even education is only subjected to counsels of pru- 
dence, mildness, and piety, and not to rules of discipline. 

(18.) An extreme inequality in the distribution of the goods 
of fortune was universal in ancient times, and Judaea formed no 
exception. The parable of the wicked rich man and the beggar, 
Lazarus, taken, like all those of the Gospel, from the manners of 
the time, presents a terrible picture of this inequality ; on the one 
hand, excessive opulence, — the rich man clothed " in purple and 
fine linen," and faring " sumptuously every day ; " and on the 
other, excessive misery, accompanied by its usual attendant, dis- 
ease, the beggar laid at his gate, who could not even obtain, to 
appease his hunger, " the crumbs which fell from the rich man's 
table." Luke, xvi, lp, — 21. In this instance, as in every other, 
great riches formed a dangerous obstacle to the progress of piety, 
to the performance of the great vocations of religion. Christ 
says, " How hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into 
the kingdom of God ! " — that is, to become my disciples, to 
obey my precepts j and to give strength to this remark, he em- 

p 4 



320 TsOTES TO BOOK V. 

ploys a proverbial expression : " It is easier for a camel to go 
through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the 
kingdom of God." Mark x. 24, 25 ; Matt. xix. 23, 24 ; Luke 
xviii. 24, 25. On the manner of acquiring these riches, the 
strongest censures are pronounced : f * Behold, the hire of the 
labourers which have reaped down your fields, which is of you 
kept back by fraud, crieth ; and the cries of them which have 
reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth." 
James, v. 4. Of the vanity of riches it is said : " Lay not up for 
yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth cor- 
rupt." Matt. vi. 19. " For what is a man profited if he shall 
gain the whole world, and lose his own soul ? " Matt. xiv. 26 ; 
Mark viii. 36 ; Luke ix. 25. " Woe unto you that are rich ! for 
ye have " already e< received your consolation." Luke vi. 24. 
" The love of money "" is represented as " the root of all evil," 
1 Tim. vi. 10; and abundant alms-giving as a proof of love to 
God, and as the only means of giving a value to perishable trea- 
sures : " But whoso hath this world's goods, and seeth his bro- 
ther have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from 
him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? " 1 John, iii. 17. 
" Charge them that are rich that they do good, that they be rich 
in good works, laying up in store for themselves a good founda- 
tion against the time to come," 1 Tim. vi. 17 — 19 > " A treasure 
in the heavens that faileth not." Luke xii. 33. But the subject 
is here only treated in the moral point of view. 

The treatment experienced by insolvent debtors among the 
Jews was not less terrible than among the Pagan nations, although 
Moses, in his laws, made as many regulations for its alleviation 
as the age would permit. Lev. xxv. 34 — 43. The hard-hearted 
cupidity of the rich soon, however, broke through these restric- 
tions, and made them usurp the right of ill-treatment, as the 
prophets reproach them with doing. Amos curses the wicked 
calculations of the rich, who, by means of small loans, reduced 
their brethren to bondage : " That we may buy the poor for silver, 
and the needy for a pair of shoes." Amos, ii. 6. ; viii. 6. " But ye 
turned, and polluted my name, and caused every man his servant, 
and every man his handmaid, whom he had set at liberty at their 
pleasure" (according to the law, Deut. xv. 12.), " and brought 
them (again) into subjection, to be unto you for servants and for 
handmaids." Jer. xxxiv. ] 6. 

At the period of the Gospel, the debtor might be " sold, and 
his wife and children, and all that he had," that payment might 
be made, Matt, xviii. 25 : he was exposed to all kinds of ill- 
usage, xviii. 28 ; " cast into prison," xviii. 30 ; and committed 



NOTES TO BOOK V. 321 

to the keeping of harsh gaolers, " till he should pay all that was 
due." Matt, xviii. 25—28. 30 — 34. In the midst of these 
cruel customs, generosity in lending is strongly recommended by 
the Gospel : " From him that would borrow of thee turn not 
thou away." Matt. v. 42. '* And if ye lend to them of whom 
ye hope to receive, what thanks have ye ? For sinners also 
lend to sinners, to receive as much again . . . Lend, hoping for 
nothing again ; and your reward shall be great/' Luke vi. 34, 
35 ; and the social, judicial, and legislative question is entirely 
set aside. 

Among the Jews, on the death of a father, his property was 
divided among his sons, with this restriction, that the eldest son 
received a double share ; this custom necessarily often rendered 
the distribution difficult, and gave rise to great altercation : yet 
such was the wise firmness with which Christ avoided mixing 
himself up in social questions, and usurping public functions, 
even that of a simple arbiter, that when one of his disciples said 
to him one day in the midst of the crowd : " Master, speak to 
my brother, that he divide the inheritance with me ; " he replied : 
" Man, who made me a judge or divider over you ? " Luke, xii. 
13, 14. 

(19.) The manner in which the Gospel expresses itself on the 
subject of slavery is worthy of great attention : fe Let every man," 
says St Paul, " abide in the same calling wherein he was called;" 
that is, in the condition in which he was when he became a 
Christian. " Art thou called being a servant (slave) ? care not 
for it." 1 Cor. vii. 20, 21. Thus the Gospel recommends to 
the slave to resign himself to his situation, and does not permit 
Christian equality to be abused, and made a means for raising 
a man above his condition : " And they that have believing 
masters, let them not despise them, because they are brethren," 
1 Tim. vi. 2 ; and St. Paul would not retain the slave Onesimus 
with him, without the permission of Philemon : " But without 
thy mind would I do nothing." Phil. 14. The duties of the 
slave are inculcated in the most positive manner : " Servants, be 
obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, 
with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto 
Christ : not with eye-service, as men-pleasers ; but as the ser- 
vants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart j with good- 
will doing service, as unto the Lord, and not to men." Eph. vi. 
5 — 7 j Col. iii. 22, 23. " Exhort servants to be obedient unto 
their own masters, and to please them well in all things ; not 
answering again; not purloining, but showing all fidelity." 

p 5 



322 NOTES TO BOOK V.- 

Titus, ii, 9, 10. The Gospel even requires, that this respect, 
this docility, should be shown " not only to the good and gentle" 
among the masters, " but also to the froward." 1 Peter, ii. 18. 

Is it, then, through contempt for liberty, or want of pity for 
slavery, that the Gospel thus speaks ? By no means. On the 
one hand, St. Paul says to the slave : ' ' If thou mayest be made 
free " when thou enterest the church, " use it (the opportunity) 
rather," 1 Cor. vii. 21 ; on the other, the duties and obliga- 
tions of masters towards their servants are traced with the same 
power and energy : " And, ye masters, do the same things unto 
them, forbearing threatening : give unto your servants that which 
is just and equal." Eph. vi. 9; Col. iv. 1. 

Why, then, is this great and deplorable social fact of antiquity 
thus accepted by the Gospel ? St. Paul replies to this question : 
" Let as many servants as are under the yoke count their own 
masters worthy of all honour, that the name of God and his doc- 
trine be not blasphemed," 1 Tim. vi. ] ; and the virtues re- 
commended to slaves are enforced, " that they may adorn the 
doctrine of God our Saviour in all things." Titus, ii. 10. 

To these indispensable lessons of resignation and charity, the 
Gospel added a most powerful corrective, one which would be of 
unfailing effect at a future more or less distant, according as men 
should be more or less Christians, viz. the entire and complete 
equality of master and slave in the church of Christ, and in the 
judgment of God : " For he that is called in the Lord, being a 
servant, is the Lord's freeman." 1 Cor. vii. 22. It was by 
virtue of this principle that the slave Onesimus was the " brother" 
of the great apostle of the Gentiles : " Receive him not now as a 
servant, but a brother beloved, . . ." St. Paul writes to Phile- 
mon, Philem. 12. 15, 16. " For ye are all the children of God 
by faith in Christ Jesus . . . there is neither bond nor free." 
Gal. iii. 26 — 28 ; Col. hi. 11. " Knowing that whatsoever good 
thing any man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord, 
whether he be bond or free;" and to the possessors of slaves it 
is said : " Knowing that your master also is in heaven ; neither is 
there respect of persons with him," Eph. vi. 8, 9 > an d these 
new principles of equality are constantly recurring, and are found 
even in the allegories of revelation. Rev. vi. 15; xiii. 16; xix. 18. 
(20.) Christ recognises the actual, existing government; and 
it is in order to leave the question on the ground of fact, and 
avoid transferring it to that of right, that he has recourse to the 
argument so admirable in its simplicity, and which the most wily 
logic could neither falsify nor complicate nor embroil : l< Show me 
the tribute-money .... whose is this image and superscription ? 



NOTES TO BOOK V. 323 

They say unto him, Caesar's. Then saith he unto them, Render 
therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God 
the things that are God's." Matt. xxii. 1Q — 21; Mark, xii. 
15 — 17; Luke, xx. 23 — 25. He replies to Pilate, that the 
power with which he is invested is given him "from above;" 
and we must here remember, that all the tyrannies of ancient 
times included the absolute power of life and death : (< Knowest 
thou not," are Pilot's words to Jesus, " that I have power to 
crucify thee, and have power to release thee ? " John, xix. 10, 11. 
St. Paul declares, that against Caesar he has " offended nothing at 
all/' and appeals to Caesar. Acts, xxv. 8 — 11. This conduct 
was in conformity with the precepts which he had inculcated : 
ee Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there 
is no power but of God : the powers that be are ordained of God. 
Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath (from 
fear of punishment), but for conscience sake. Render, therefore, to 
all their dues : tribute to whom tribute is due ; custom to whom 
custom ; fear to whom fear ; honour to whom honour." Rom. 
xiii. 1. 5 — 7; Titus, iii. 1; 1 Peter, ii. 13 — 17. Again, St. 
Paul commands that " Supplications, prayers, intercessions, and 
giving of thanks, be made for all men ; for kings, and for all that 
are in authority." 1 Tim. ii. 1. 

(21.) The Gospel pronounces one eulogium, and one only, on 
the warlike courage which is founded on faith, or confidence in 
God: " And what shall I say more," adds the sacred author, of. 
those "who through faith waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight 
the armies of the aliens ? " Heb. xi. 32 — 34. Of war itself it 
contains not a word. 

(22.) St. Matthew relates the suicide of Judas, Matt, xxvii. 5,.; 
and St. Peter refers to it in the discourse in which he proposes to 
his colleagues to elect a successor to the traitor; but neither the 
evangelist nor the apostle condemns this act of despair : the simple, 
yet terrible phrase with which the prayer of the apostles, at the 
moment of election, concludes, does not refer to the death of 
Judas, but to his defection : " . . . this ministry and apostle- 
ship, from which Judas by transgression fell, that he might go, 
to his own place," Acts, i. 25; that is, that he might follow his 
destiny and suffer his punishment. 

(23.) Thus, when Moses first attempted to deliver his brethren 
from bondage in Egypt, Ex. ii. 11, Israel was not yet ripe for 
liberty : " For he supposed his brethren would have understood 
how that God by his hand would deliver them ; but they under- 
stood not," Acts, vii. 25; it was too soon, forty years later 
the moment arrived, vii. 30. 

r 6 



324 NOTES TO BOOK V. 

(24.) " But if any provide not for his own, and specially for 
those of his own house, he hath denied the faith/' 1 Tim. v. 8. ; 
and Christ, when censuring the hypocrisy of the Pharisees and 
their fallacious interpretations of the law, especially alludes to 
and condemns the exemption from assisting parents, claimed 
under pretext of religious consecration : " But ye say, whosoever 
shall say to his father, or his mother, It is a gift, by whatsoever 
thou mightest be profited by me (it is corban, that is, a gift 
offered and consecrated to God, of which I can no longer dispose 
in any way whatever), he shall be free. And ye suffer him no 
more to do aught for his father or his mother; making the word 
of God of none effect through your tradition." Matt. xv. 5, 6. ; 
Mark, vii. 11 — 13. 

(25.) It is thus that St. Paul understands the equality of pos- 
sessions : " For I mean not that other men be eased, and you 
burdened; but by an equality, that now at this time your abun- 
dance may be a supply for their want, that their abundance also 
may be a supply for your want, that there may be equality." 2 
Cor. viii. 13, 14. 

(26.) The necessaries of life are thus defined in the Gospel : 
" And having food and raiment (wherewithal to cover ourselves), 
let us be therewith content." 1 Tim. vi. 8. The word here 
translated raiment or cove?* signifies, in its true sense, at once 
clothing and shelter. St. James adds the idea of a hearth to this 
definition : (C If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of 
daily food, and one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye 
warmed and rilled ; notwithstanding ye give them not those things 
which are needful to the body, what doth it profit ? " James, ii. 

16. 

(27.) In order to make himself recognised as the Messiah by 
the disciples of John the Baptist, Jesus gave them, besides the 
sign of miracles, this more touching sign : " The poor have 
the Gospel preached to them." Matt. xi. 5 ; Luke, vii. 22. 
In the synagogue at Nazareth, applying to himself one of the pro- 
phetic descriptions of Isaiah (Isaiah, lxi. l), he announced the 
kingdom of God in the same manner, Luke, iv. 18; and the 
apostles followed in the steps of their master : " For ye see your 
calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not 
many mighty, not many noble, are called." 1 Cor. i. 26. 

(28.) Of the believers of the primitive church it is said: 
" Neither was any among them that lacked." Acts, iv. 34. But 
alas ! to what Christian community of the present day might not 
the reproach of St. John to the church of Ephesus be justly ad- 



NOTES TO BOOK V. 325 

dressed : " I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left 
thy first love, " (charity ?) Rev. ii. 4. 

(29.) (See Book I. Chap. xvi. note 62.) On the subject of 
the union of the soul and body, the Gospel speaks the simple and 
ordinary language of all nations, that which represents the body 
as the domicile, the receptacle, the dwelling-place of the soul, 
which is as it were shut up in it during life : " Trouble not your- 
selves," said Paul to the friends of Eutychus ; " for his life (his 
soul) is in him," Acts, xx. 10; and which is freed from it by 
death : " Her spirit came again," says St. Luke, in speaking 
of the raising of Jairus's daughter. Luke, viii. 55. 

(SO.) The laws of Moses pronounce the penalty of sacrilege, 
the punishment of stoning, against necromancers or wizards, pro- 
perly so called ; that is, diviners who pretended to the power of 
making the dead appear and answer questions. Lev. xx. 27. 
This kind of divination, as well as all others, is condemned by 
Moses as impious and idolatrous. Lev. xix. 31; Deut. xviii. 
11. It is true, that the prohibition of attempts to call up the 
dead does not prove that no relation exists between this world 
and the other, but that the power of bringing about this relation 
cannot be usurped by man. Two other passages, one in Job 
and the other in Ecclesiastes, are much more explicit : " His 
sons came to honour, and he knoweth it not ; and they are 
brought low, but he perceiveth it not of them," Job. xiv. 21; 
" . . . the dead know not anything ; . . . also their love, and 
their hatred, and their envy, is now perished ; neither have they 
any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the 
sun." Ecc. ix. 5, 6. 

But the New Testament contains not a line on this subject 
from which any positive conclusion can be drawn. The presence 
of Moses and Elias on Mount Tabor (see Book II. Chap.xxiu. 
note 31.), is a fact completely exceptional even in the order of 
the Gospel miracles ; and Moses and Elias here held communica- 
tion only with Christ, and not with his disciples. It appears 
that the angels (see Book I. Chap. xv. note 56.), rather than 
those of our brethren of mankind who have already been called 
from this life, have some knowledge of the things of this world : 
Ci Likewise I say unto you," are the words of Christ, " there is 
joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that re- 
penteth." Luke, xv. 10. The mystery of godliness was u seen," 
that is, known, " of angels," 1 Tim. iii. l6; and some vague ex- 
pressions in the Epistles would, if taken in a more accurate mean- 
ing, afford the same conclusion. St. Paul borrows a splendid 
image from the games of the circus : in these bloody spectacles, 



826 NOTES TO book v; 

" the last " of the captives or victims were reserved to be exposed, 
unarmed, to the wild beasts : " For I think/' says the apostle, 
( ' that God hath set forth us the apostles last, as it were appointed 
to death ; for we are made a spectacle unto the world, and to 
angels, and to men." 1 Cor. iv. 9- " To the intent that now, 
unto the principalities and powers (that is, to the orders, the 
legions of angels,) in heavenly places, might be known by the 
church the manifold wisdom of God." Eph. iii. 10. The only 
text in which the spirits of the just are represented as looking on, 
from their happy abode, at the struggles of the faithful on earth, 
is also an image borrowed from the ceremonies of the Olympic 
games : " Wherefore, seeing we also are compassed about with so 
great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the 
sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the 
race that is set before us." Heb. xii. 1. These " witnesses " are 
the just and righteous men, whose faith is recalled to mind in the 
preceding chapter. But we cannot take the terms of this passage 
in a very literal sense, since the whole is so figurative, that Christ 
is represented in the following verse as the judge seated at the 
goal, and ready to crown the victor : " Let us run, looking unto 
Jesus, the author and finisher (remunerator) of our faith," 

(31.) (See Book II. Chap, xxm. and the notes.) The silence of 
the Gospel on this subject is the more remarkable, as the question 
is brought forward by St. Paul himself: "But some man will 
say, How are the dead raised up ? and with what body do they 
come ? " 1 Cor. xv. 35. But he does not resolve it. 

(32.) (See Book I. Chap. xvi. note 6l, and Book VI. 
Chap, lxxvii.) Future relations, the certainty of again seeing, 
recognising, and cherishing those whom we have known and 
cherished in this world, is among the truths which are reserved 
or avoided in the Gospel. (See Book V. Chap, lvi.) The Gospel, 
in fact, contains no direct reference, and scarcely an allusion, to 
this subject. The only passage, and that a very indirect one, 
which gives forth a gleam of this hope, is to be found in the 
Epistle to the Hebrews : " For ye are not come unto the mount 
that might be touched (unto the mount touched by fire from 
heaven) and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and dark- 
ness, and tempest, and the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of 
words ; which voice (so terrible was it) they that heard entreated 
that the word should not be spoken unto them any more .... 
and so terrible was the sight, that Moses said, I exceedingly fear 
and quake : but ye are come unto Mount Zion, and unto the 
city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an in- 
numerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church 



NOTES TO BOOK V. 327 

of the first-born, which (whose names) are written in heaven, 
and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made 
perfect, and to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant." Heb. 
xiii. 18 — 24. This whole passage contains but one idea — the 
superiority of the religion of Jesus, full of mercy, gentleness, 
charity, and joy, to that of Moses, abounding in menaces and 
terrors. The sacred writer, carried away by his imagination and 
his ardour, and tracing a bold and energetic outline of these great 
distinctions, accumulates the most striking images without order 
or arrangement. Addressing Hebrews by birth and extraction, 
he multiplies images with which they were familiar, and his ideas 
go and come, as it were, between the church on earth and the 
church in heaven : " Mount Zion, the city of the living God," 
(See Book VI. Chap. lxi. note 4.) signifies the church on earth, 
still "fighting the good fight; the heavenly Jerusalem, the in- 
numerable company of angels," the church in heaven, already 
triumphant ; the sacred writer then returns again to the Christians 
of this world, " to the assembly (the word used signifies a meet- 
ing for some solemn festive purpose) of the first-born (according 
to the old Mosaic customs, the first-born son was the head and 
heir of the family, and Israel is called in Scripture ' the first- 
born of God, ' Ex. iv. 32 ; Jer. xxxi. 9-)> w h° se names are 
written in heaven ; " an expression used by Christ himself, Luke 
x. 20, and taken from the custom of inscribing the names of the 
citizens of a town in an authentic register : God is represented 
as writing in " the book of life," Phil. iv. 3, the names of those 
whose " conversation" was "in heaven" (the citizens of heaven), 
iii. 20. All these latter expressions refer to the Christians still 
in this world ; but St. Paul's imagination suddenly reascends to 
heaven, and he adds: Ye are come "to the spirits of just men 
made perfect" (who have arrived at the perfection of their salva- 
tion and of their destiny) ; in these words he speaks of the faithful 
who have already entered upon their future life. This interpre- 
tation of this remarkable and beautiful passage is followed by all 
the best critics : the apostle's idea may, therefore, be thus ex- 
pressed : " You have united and associated yourselves, not with 
those who still tremble at the rigour and menaces of their law, 
promulgated with the sound of thunder, but with the disciples 
of the new law, as well with those who still have their victory to 
gain, in order that their names may not be ( blotted out from 
the book of life,' Rev. iii. 5, as with those who are already existing 
in the perfection of immortality." Is it possible to be associated 
with the former, perfectly knowing and recognising them, and 
with the latter without any such recognition ? 



NOTES TO BOOK V. 

(S3.) The word " angel" signifies " messenger, envoy;" the 
Gospel speaks of angels in a manner which is in conformity both 
with the recollections of the Divine commands which they had 
fulfilled, and with the opinions of the Jews, who attributed to 
them a still greater share in the affairs of our world, and who 
divided them into different orders : " Are they not all (in all 
their orders) ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them 
who shall be heirs of salvation?" Heb. i. 14, (See Book I. 
Ghap. xv. note 56.) They are called " angels of God," Matt, 
xxii. 30; John, i. 51 ; Acts, xxvii. 23 ; Gal. iv. 14 ; Heb. i. 6 ; 
" angels of the Lord," Matt, xxviii. 2; Acts, xii. 7; " holy 
angels," Matt. xxv. 31; Mark, viii. 38 ; Luke, ix. 26"; Acts, 
x. 22; Rev. xiv. 10; "angels of Christ," Matt. xxiv. 31; 
2 Thes. i. 7 ; ' ' angels of heaven," Matt. xxiv. 36 ; Mark. xii. 
25 ; xiii. 32 ; Gal. i. 8 ; " elect angels," 1 Tim. v. 2 1 ; " angels 
of light/' 2 Cor. xi. 14; i( principalities and powers," Eph. i. 

21 ; iii. 10; 1 Pet. iii. 22; "thrones and dominions." Col. i. 
16. The two last terms are doubtful in this sense, and some- 
times have been applied to the great ones of the world, the princes 
of the earth ; but however this may be, it is evident that none 
of these passages throw any light upon the nature of angels. 
Two points only can be admitted as positive : the first, that they 
are great in number : " Ye are come," as participators in the new 
covenant, " to an innumerable company of angels," Heb. xii. 

22 ; the second, that they are nearer to God than we : " Their 
angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in 
heaven," are the words of Christ, Matt, xviii. 10 ; Luke, i. 19 ; 
Rev. i. 4 ; that is, their nature is superior to ours. 

It is worthy of remark, that revelation says not a word of the 
nature of angels ; even when, speaking according to the popular 
opinion of the Jews that each individual had his guardian angel, 
his good genius, it seems to place them in nearer relation to 
humanity : " The angels of these little ones " according to the 
world, these humble disciples, Matt, xviii. 10; " it is his angel," 
said the friends of Mary to Rhoda, disbelieving her statement 
that Peter, delivered from his prison, was knocking at the gate. 
Acts, xii. 15. It is also by an image that the idea is expressed 
in the Psalms : " The angel of the Lord encampeth round about 
them that fear him, and delivereth them." Ps. xxxiv. 7. 

The expression of St. Paul : " Though I speak with the 
tongues of men and of angels . . . and have not charity, I am 
nothing," 1 Cor. xiii. 1, 2, is merely hyperbolical, and throws no 
light on the means of communication possessed by these superior 
beings. 



NOTES TO BOOK V. 329 

(34.) The holy women, " entering into the sepulchre, saw a 
young man sitting on the right side, clothed in a long white 
garment; and they were affrighted." Mark, xvi. 5. "And it 
came to pass, as they were much perplexed thereabout, behold, 
two men stood by them in shining garments." Luke, xxiv. 4. 

{35.) The same remarks apply to what the Gospel says of bad 
angels; they are called "angels of the devil," Matt. xxv. 41 ; 
Rev. xii. 9 ; li messengers of Satan," 2 Cor. xii. 7 ; " angels of 
the dragon, or of the serpent," Rev. xii. 7 j " angels which kept 
not their first estate," Jude, vi. ; and the punishments which 
they endure are represented by images, " everlasting fire," Matt, 
xxv. 41 ; " chains of darkness," 2 Pet. ii. 4 ; Jude, 6 ; from 
which no accurate conclusion can be drawn. The Gospel only 
gives us positive assurance of two points regarding demons ; first, 
that they were not created, any more than ourselves, for evil and 
punishment — this was not, according to the remarkable expres- 
sion of Jude, f ' their first estate ;" second, that they " believe in 
one God, and (but) tremble.'' James, ii. 1Q. (See, on demoniacs, 
Book IV. Chap. xlvi. note 35.) 

(36.) The Epistle to the Hebrews opens with this idea : 
" God, who at sundry times, and in divers manners, spake in 
time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last 
days spoken unto us by his son," Heb. i. 1 ; and inspiration 
followed in the world "the path of the just," which "is as the 
shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day." 
Prov. iv. 18. 

Various passages in the sacred books attest the intermittent 
nature of inspiration : " And the word of the Lord was precious 
(rare) in those days ; (towards the end of the government of the 
judges) there was no open vision." 1 Sam. iii. 1. In the days 
of the decline of the kingdom of the ten tribes, Amos is com- 
missioned to announce to the persecutors of the prophets "a 
famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, 
but of hearing the words of the Lord." Amos, viii. 11. "Then 
shall the seers be ashamed, and the diviners confounded ; yea, 
they shall all cover their lips : for there is no answer of God," 
writes the prophet Micah, iii. 7, some time before the ruin of 
Israel, and the destruction of Samaria. Ezekiel pronounces the 
same threats against the kingdom of Judah : <l Then shall they 
seek (in vain) a vision of the prophet," Ezek. vii. 26 ; and 
Jeremiah, in his Lamentations, mourns over this silence of the 
Divine voice: "Her prophets, also, find no vision from the Lord." 
Lam. ii. 9* 

During the long period of interruption of all revelations and 



330 NOTES TO BOOK V. 

prophecies which followed the ministry of Malachi, the people of 
God remained under the influence of preceding revelations ; it is 
in this sense that it is said : " For all the prophets and the law 
prophesied until John/' Matt. xi. 13 ; Luke, xvi. 16 ; which, 
however, did not prevent the absence of all revelation during this 
time from being deeply felt and deplored. The 74th psalm, 
attributed to an Asaph, who could not be the contemporary of 
David, but was probably one of his descendants, traces a terrible 
picture of the situation of the Jews, in which it is difficult not 
to recognise the age of the Maccabees, and the persecution of 
Antiochus Epiphanus, king of Syria ; one of the most touching 
passages in this psalm is the following : " There is no more any 
prophet : neither is there among us any that knoweth how long " 
(when our misfortunes will end). Ps. Ixxiv. Q. When the 
Divine voice once more makes itself heard in the Gospel, we see 
by the transport of the faithful, by the astonishment of the people, 
that this is a renewal of communication between heaven and 
earth : " God hath visited his people," is the exclamation of 
Zacharias. At sight of the raising of the widow of Nain's son, 
some said : u A great prophet is risen up among us ; " others, 
11 God hath visited his people." vii. 16. 

Christ himself acknowledges the variety of Divine revelations : 
ff Every scribe, which is instructed unto the kingdom of heaven, 
is like unto a man that is an householder, which bringeth forth 
out of his treasure things new and old," Matt. xiii. 52 — some- 
times preserved provisions, sometimes stores and fruit newly 
gathered in or plucked, in allusion to the precepts of the old and 
of the new covenant. 

And here the fruitful and often reproduced idea of the supe- 
riority of the Gospel over the law, of the church over the temple, 
of Christ over Moses, naturally takes its place : " For this man 
(Jesus) was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch 
as he who hath builded the house (that is, founded, or formed 
the family) hath more honour than the house. . . . And Moses 
verily was faithful in all his house, as a servant, for a testimony 
of those things which were to be spoken after ; but Christ as a 
son " is chief " over his own house (the house of God) ; whose 
house are we." Heb. iii. 3 — 6. 

(37.) The Epistles clearly indicate an interval, estimated by 
the best critics at between twenty-eight and thirty years, between 
the death of Christ and the compilation of the Gospels ; during 
which time tradition, contained in some writings not of Divine 
authority, Luke, i. 1, preserved and transmitted the recollection 
of our Saviour's mission. Jesus, after his resurrection, " was 






NOTES TO BOOK V. 331 

seen," writes St. Paul to the Corinthians, "of above five hundred 
brethren at once ; of whom the greater part remain unto this 
present," 1 Cor. xv. 6. ; " . . . but our sufficiency is of God," 
writes he again, " who also hath made us able ministers of the 
New Testament, not of the letter;" that is, of the old covenant, 
which is written, ' ' but of the spirit," of the new covenant, which 
is as yet only written in men's hearts. 2 Cor. iii. 5, 6. The 
connection of ideas obliges us to understand this passage thus, 
and another allusion to the traditional period of the Gospel ought 
perhaps to be seen in a much disputed text, in which the apostle 
mentions the fact of the mediation and death of the Saviour, and 
adds : " To be testified in due time." 1 Tim. ii. 6. This 
version, as it is the most simple, so it is also the most probable. 

(38.) As soon as the laws of the covenant, Ex. xx., and fol- 
lowing chapters, had been accepted and sworn to, Moses put them 
into writing ; this was the natural order of things : " And Moses 
came and told the people all the words of the Lord, and all the 
judgments ; and all the people answered with one voice, and said, 
All the words which the Lord hath said will we do. And Moses 
wrote all the words of the Lord." Ex. xxiv. 3, 4 ; xxxiv. 27» 
Deuteronomy was compiled in his time, Deut. xxxi. 9 ; so that 
Joshua could say to the people : "Be ye therefore very courageous 
to keep and to do all that is written in the book of the law of 
Moses." Josh, xxiii. 6". Joshua in his turn wrote the renewal of 
the covenant, xxiv. 26. David, in one of his psalms, thus ex- 
presses the resolutions of his fidelity : " Lo, I come," to present 
myself to thee, to live according to thy will, " in the volume of 
the book it is written of me . . ." Ps. xi. 7 ; that is, in the law, 
in which the duties of the kings of the Hebrews were in fact laid 
down beforehand. Deut. xvii. 14 — 20. 

The fact, alone, of the collection of the sacred books sufficiently 
testifies the necessity of a written revelation. Some of the sacred 
authors, however, give their reasons for writing; St. Luke does so 
explicitly in his short preface. Luke i. 1 — 4. St. John, in his 
Epistle, the introductory letter to his Gospel, addresses the be- 
lievers of different periods of life, and gives them, as motives for 
writing to them, pardon of sins already obtained, the knowledge 
of Christ already acquired, victory over evil already gained ; and 
the understood consequence of his idea throughout is, that what 
he writes will confirm this pardon, this faith, this victory. 1 John, 
ii. 12 — 14. He afterwards adds : " These things have 1 written 
unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God ; that ye 
may know that ye have eternal life.*' v. 13. In his Gospel, he 
speaks the same language. John, xx. 31. St. Paul writes to the 



332 NOTES TO BOOK V. 

Philippians : " To write the sarae things to you " as I have said 
to you verbally, ie to me, indeed, is not grievous (wearying), but 
for you it is safe," (it is important to your moral and religious 
safety). Phil. iii. 1. 

And lastly, of the confidence which should be placed in the 
Scriptures Jesus has said : " The Scripture cannot be broken " 
(rejected). John, x. 35. 

(39.) To Tsaiah it was said : ie Now go, write it (this pro- 
phecy) before them in a table, and note it in a book, that it may 
be for the time to come for ever and ever," and may be transmit- 
ted to their descendants as a testimony. Isaiah, xxx. 8. " And 
the Lord said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, 
that he may run that readeth it (that it may be read easily). 
For the vision is yet for an appointed time. . . ." Hab. ii. 2, 3. 

(40.) It is here to be remarked, that the authors of revelation 
were the sole judges of the length which it was fitting to give to 
their narrative ; the aim which they had in view directed them 
on this point ; they stopped after having written enough, not 
after having written everything ; which would have been impos- 
sible, and contrary to the end which they wished to attain. They 
themselves acknowledge that they might have given a very dif- 
ferent extension to their narratives, and express this idea by a 
hyperbole : " And many other signs truly did Jesus in the pre- 
sence of his disciples, which are not written in this book," John, 
xx. 30 ; and whether we understand the word " miracles " or 
" signs " in the sense of prodigies, or of multiplied testimonies of 
his resurrection, the sense still returns to the same idea : " And 
there ate also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if 
they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world 
itself could not contain the books that should be written." xxi. 
25. 

(41.) In one of his last discourses to his disciples before his 
ascension, Jesus said to them : " These are the words which I 
spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must 
be fulfilled which were written in the law of Moses, and in the 
Prophets, and in the Psalms, (that is, according to one of the 
Jewish divisions of the Bible, in the sacred books of the Old 
Testament;) concerning me." Luke, xxiv. 44. c: I have finished 
the work which thou gavest me to do," said Christ in his prayer. 
John, xvii. 4. 

(42.) St. Paul explicitly taught, that the extraordinary powers 
granted in the early days of the Christian church, in order to 
render its foundation possible, surrounded as it was by the Jewish 
and Pagan world, would only be bestowed for a time : " Whe- 



NOTES TO BOOK V. 333 

ther there be prophecies, they shall fail ; whether there be tongues, 
they shall cease ; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish 
away," 1 Cor. xiii. 8 ; and if he does not here make express 
mention of the power of miracles, it is because his object is to 
cite the three miraculous gifts to which the religious pride of the 
Corinthians attached most value ; these three words, " prophe- 
cies," " tongues," and " knowledge," are repeated in the exor- 
dium of this magnificent eulogium on charity. 

<e God," says the Epistle to the Hebrews, "hath net put into 
subjection unto the angels the world to come, whereof we speak." 
Heb. ii. 5. This world to come here signifies the world of the 
Gospel, future in reference to the old world of the promise and of 
the law, with which it is compared ; and the idea of the sacred 
author is this, that under the Gospel dispensation, the angels 
would cease to possess that share in the destinies of mankind, of 
which the Mosaic covenant offers many examples, and which was 
so frequent, that their intervention, believed to be perpetual, had 
become a popular opinion among the Jews. 

(43.) St. Paul recommends Timothy to take care that the 
sacred books should be publicly read in the churches of Ephesus 
and Ionia : " Till I come, give attendance to reading of the 
Scriptures, to exhortation, to doctrine," 1 Tim. iv. 13 ; and he 
writes to the Colossians, iv. 16 : " And when this Epistle is read 
among you, cause that it be read also in the church of the Lao- 
diceans ; and that ye likewise read the Epistle," whieh will be 
sent you,/' from Laodicea;" viz. the Epistle called to the Ephe- 
sians, a circular letter to the churches of Asia Minor. 

(44.) God said to the serpent, the type of evil : " I will put 
enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and 
her seed : it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise (wound) 
his heel." Gen. iii. 15. In this passage, universalism is ex- 
pressed in the most expedient manner ; " the seed of the ser- 
pent," as we have already observed, represents evil of all kinds, 
perpetrated from generation to generation ; " the seed of the 
woman," an old expression to which the book of Job offers equi- 
valents, Job, xiv. 1 ; xv. 14 ; xxv. 4., and which occurs in the 
Gospel, Matt. xi. 11, signifies mankind; the enmity spoken of 
is the universal struggle which men have to maintain against 
evil ; the inevitable bruise, or wound, is an image of the suffer- 
ings which must always be experienced in this struggle ; the 
complete victory, the bruising of the serpent's head and of its 
venomed dart, is an image of the triumph over evil achieved by 
Jesus, and of which all mankind enjoy the fruits ; all is univer- 
sal — the struggle, the wound, and the victory. 



334 NOTES TO BOOK V. 






(45.) " For there is no difference between the Jew and the 
Greek; for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon 
him." Rom. x. 12 ; Gal. iii. 28. " Where there is neither 
Greek nor Jew, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free : but Christ 
is all, and in all." Col. iii. 1 1 . 

(46.) In all the texts anterior to Abraham, in which the direct 
intervention of God in the government of our world is expressed, 
in the Divine promises, laws, and judgments, it is always mankind 
as a whole to which reference is made ; at this period universalism 
is expressed in every sentence of the Bible. Thus, when the 
duration of life is fixed according to the need of repentance : 
" And the Lord said, my spirit shall not always strive with 
man" in his weakness, (e for that he also is flesh: yet his days 
shall be an hundred and twenty years," a length of days which 
shall suffice for his repentance, Gen. vi. 3 ; when God pro- 
nounces the sentence of the deluge : " I will destroy man, whom 
I have created, from the face of the earth .... for it repenteth 

me that I have made, them the end of all flesh is come 

before me," vi. 7 — 13 ; when God promises that this extermina- 
tion shall be unique in the annals of our race : " I will not again 
curse the ground any more for man's sake : . . . neither will I again 
smite any more every thing living, as I have done," viii. 21 ; 
when the Divine covenant is renewed with Noah : " Behold, I 
establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you," 
ix. 9 ', when the division of mankind into nations begins to be 
providentially accomplished : " And the Lord said, Behold, the 

people is one, and they have all one language So the Lord 

scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth," 
xi. 6 — 8 ; in all these texts, the intention of universalism is 
clearly and positively expressed ; no race is privileged ; the people 
of God is not a special race. 

(47.) " Then said Jesus unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto 
you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father 
giveth you the true bread from heaven," the true nourishment of 
the soul ; "... I am the bread of life," John, vi. 32 — 35 ; I, 
the head, heir, and master in the house in which Moses was only 
" a servant," Pleb. iii. 5, 6 ; I, of whom " Moses wrote," 
John, v. 46 ; whom " David called Lord," Matt. xxii. 45 ; 
Mark, xii. 37 ; Luke, xx. 44 ; and who has a right to say : 
" A greater than Jonas is here;" or to apply to myself the pro- 
phecy of the first covenant : " A greater than Solomon," with all 
his wisdom, "is here." Matt. xii. 41, 42; Luke, xi. 31, 32. 

The idea that the whole of the old law — of the old covenant 
contained nothing definitive, that it prepared everything, but 



NOTES TO BOOK V. SS5 

completed and accomplished nothing, fully belonged,, so to speak, 
to the apostle of the Gentiles, who often returns to it, and ex- 
presses it with great force. fi And by him, (by Christ) all 
that believe are justified from all things, from which you could 
not be justified by the law of Moses." Acts, xiii. 3Q. " If 
righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain/' 
Gal. ii. 21. " It (the law of Moses) was added (to the pro- 
mise received by Abraham) because of transgressions, till the 
seed (the Son) should come to whom the promise was made 
.... if there had been a law given which could have given life, 
verily righteousness should have been by the law. . . . But before 
faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith 
which should afterwards be revealed. Wherefore the law was 
our schoolmaster, to bring us unto Christ." iii. 19 — 21. 23, 24*. 
" For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no 
place have been sought for the second." Heb. viii. J. 

It is important to remark here, that, according to the ideas of 
the early Christians, so little did all this criticism of the Mosaic 
economy, as insufficient, transitory, and even tyrannical, break 
the tie between the two covenants, that St. Paul, towards the end 
of his career, when the disputes between the Judaising Christians 
and the free Christians began to moderate, did not hesitate to 
write to Timothy : <( . . . . God, whom I serve from my fore- 
fathers, (as did my forefathers) ..." 2 Tim. i. 3 ; he never for- 
got that the God of the old covenant was likewise that of the 
new. 

(48.) The veil of Moses, the veil of the old testament, is only 
" done away in Christ," 2 Cor. iii. 14; that is, the Gospel alone 
can explain the law. 

(49.) " For there is verily a disannulling of the commandment 
going before (the old law), for the weakness and unprofitable- 
ness thereof. For the law made nothing perfect, but the bring- 
ing in of a better hope did ; by the which we draw nigh unto 
God." Heb. vii. 18, 19- This abrogation of the Mosaic law 
is considered by the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews, as 
expressed in a passage of the prophet Haggai, which he inter- 
prets as follows : " And this word (the prophecy of Haggai) 
signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of 
things that are made, (the abolition of institutions which may 
be done away with, those of Mosaism) that those things which 
cannot be shaken may remain " (may take their place). Heb. xii. 
27. St. Paul here speaks of the great moral and religious revo- 
lution announced by Haggai, Hag. ii. 6, which was to take place 
when Jerusalem should possess a temple richer and more magnifi- 



336 NOTES TO BOOK V. 

cent than the first. The superiority of the Gospel over the first 
covenant is so great, that if " among them that are born of 
women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist," 
because he saw and heard Christ, " notwithstanding/' the most 
humble Christian teacher, " he that is least in the kingdom of 
heaven," that is, in the church, " is greater than he;" because 
John, the forerunner of Christ, was removed from this world 
before his crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension. Matt. xi. 11 ; 
Luke, vii. 28. 

(50.) " Do we then make void the law through faith," Mo- 
saism through Christianity ? " God forbid : yea, we establish 
the law," Rom. iii. 31 ; " for Christ is the end (the accom- 
plishment) of the law." x. 4. 

(51.) To deny this fundamental principle of the study and 
understanding of the Scriptures, is to place on the same level, 
as regards both inspiration and authority, the slightest geographi- 
cal details of boundaries now effaced ; the smallest genealogical 
lists of personages now buried in oblivion ; the salutations which 
terminate each Epistle, doubtless holy testimonies of friendship, 
but which had no other aim or effect, and the most important 
portions of revelation ; it is to force ourselves to read with the 
same respect, the sermon on the mount and the request for 
" the cloak left at Troas," 2 Tim. iv. 13 ; to place in one rank, 
on the one hand, Moses and Isaiah, St. John and St. Paul ; and 
on the other, Tertius, secretary to St. Paul, whom we must then 
reckon among the authors of the Bible, because he wrote this 
line : " I, Tertius, who wrote (copied) this Epistle, salute you 
in the Lord." Rom. xvi. 22. Finally, it is to forget, that it was 
necessary that the Bible should contain errors, and to render the 
Holy Spirit responsible for them. (See Book IV. Chap. xlvi. 
note 35.) One text, and one alone, seems to contravene this 
principle ; and does, in fact, do so in our inaccurate versions ; 
but a remarkable fact in the original fully confirms it. It is a 
passage in tbe second Epistle to Timothy, iii. 16. In the com- 
mon version we read : " All Scripture is given by inspiration of 
God, and is profitable for doctrine/' etc. In the original we 
find the passage, word for word, as follows : " All Scripture 
given by inspiration," without the word " is," which, in fact, 
does not exist in any manuscript, and which is added in the 
usual way of translating the sentence. If we read the sentence 
in this manner, the words "all Scripture given by inspiration, &c." 
become the subject of the phrase. The phrase is without a verb, 
according to one of the rapid and concise forms of the Greek lan- 
guage. Now, the verb which is understood can only be placed 



NOTES TO BOOK V. 337 

after the subject; the true translation, therefore, is : "All Scripture 
given by inspiration is profitable for doctrine," &c. This is, in 
fact, the place which the genius of our modern languages re- 
quires the verb should occupy ; otherwise we make the apostle 
say : " All writing (not Scripture, but writings in general, 
whatever they be) is divinely inspired;" a version which tends to 
the absurd ; and the connection of ideas in the end of this chapter 
perfectly accords with our interpretation, the only one possible. 
St. Paul's object is to encourage his friend to persevere in the 
duties of his ministry, in the midst of persecutions, and he gives 
him three motives for so doing : 1st. The gratitude and affection 
which he ought to feel towards his master, then old, forsaken, 
and near his martyrdom : " But continue thou in the things 
which thou hast learned, and hast been assured of, knowing of 
whom thou hast learned them," iii. 14: St. Paul, like St. John 
in his Gospel, does not name himself, through humility. 2d. The 
recollections of his early years, recalled to his mind by the 
apostle at the beginning of this Epistle, i. 5, and of the pious 
lessons of his mother and grandmother : " And that from a child 
thou hast known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee 
wise unto Salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus," iii. 
15 ; and 3d. The light and aid which the Old Testament affords 
him, that he may fulfil the duties of his ministry successfully, and 
establish himself in righteousness and fidelity ; and these instruc- 
tions received in his youth should be the more dear to him, says 
the apostle, since " All Scripture given by inspiration is profitable 
for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righte- 
ousness; that the man of God (the minister of the word) may be 
perfect, throughly finished unto all good works." iii. 16, 17. (See 
Book IV. Chap. xlii. note 10 ; and Book VI. Chap. lxxv. 
note 91.) 

(52.) There is no Christian who at the moment of his temp- 
tation may not reply in the words of Christ when resisting 
his ; three times he appealed to revelation, and said to Satan: "It 
is written.'' Matt. iv. 4. 7. 10. 

(53.) This is the very idea of the Psalmist: " I have seen an 
end of all perfection (I have seen limits to every thing that I 
have known) : but thy commandment (this word here signifies 
the whole of religion, with all its meditations and hopes) is 
exceeding broad " (is infinite in its extent). Ps. cxix. Q6. 

(54) Jesus said in a supreme and absolute sense : *' I am the 
truth," John, xiv. 6 ; and when he said in his prayer : 
" Sanctify them through thy truth : thy word is truth," xvii. 17, 
he spoke not of words, but of facts ; not of the word, in the 

Q 



338 NOTES TO BOOK V. 

sense of language, but of the word in the sense of revelation ; he 
spoke of the very basis of religion. 

(55.) The Holy Scripture is the only irrefutable book ; but 
solely on condition that sacred criticism cures itself of what 
St. Paul justly calls " doting about questions and strifes of 
words. " 1 Tim. vi. 4. In his second Epistle to Timothy, he 
returns to this subject, ff . . . charging them before the Lord 
that they strive not about words to no profit, but to the sub- 
verting of the hearers," 2 Tim. ii. 14 ; it is disputes on the 
literal sense of the written law which are spoken of in these texts; 
when giving the same instructions to Titus, the apostle calls 
" strivings about the law," that is, disputes relating to the inter- 
pretation of the Mosaic law, what he calls " strifes about words " 
in his Epistles to Timothy. Titus, iii. 9. 



339 



BOOK VI. 

THE FUTURE OF CHRISTIANITY IN TIME AND BEYOND TIME. 



Agnituri tarn nosmetipsos quam et nostros . . . substantia, non con- 
scientia, reformabimur. — Tertullian, De Monogamia, cap. x. 

Nous avons entrevu la nature de nos relations et le degre de notre 
homogeneite avec Dieu ; pour les sentir l'un et l'autre distinctement, il 
faut la mort. Combien de developpements, combien de morts il faut a 
l'ame pour qu'elle parvienne a, la plus grande perfection dont son essence 
est susceptible ! C'est un secret voile pour nous aussi longtemps, que la 
succession de temps et de parties sera pour nous le seul moyen d'avoir 
des idees distinctes, corame les cbants sublimes du divin Homere sont des 
secrets voiles pour l'enfant, qui ne forme encore des syllabes par la 
successions des sons et des caracteres. — Hemsterhuis, Aristee ou de la 
Divinite. 



CHAP. LXI. 

PERPETUITY OF CHRISTIANITY. FI3ST GUARANTEE. ITS 

INDEPENDENCE. 

It remains now to treat of the earthly and heavenly 
future of Christianity. The first aspect of this question 
obliges us to inquire, whether Christianity can be de- 
finitive for this world, and on what conditions ; as its 
future in an immortal existence obviously depends upon 
its future in the present. If Christianity be not in- 
tended to lead mankind to the end of the present phase 
of progress, it is certain we shall not find it again in the 
future world. 

To ask whether Christianity be definitive, is, at first 
view, and apparently, to put two questions, to raise two 

Q 2 



340 PERPETUITY OF CHRISTIANITY: 

doubts ; it is to ask, if mankind can actually fall back 
anew into iniquity and error, beyond the point from 
whence redemption has brought them ; and if, in the 
event of this fatality, God would grant a second 
redemption. 

These two questions, however, have nothing reason- 
able in them, and both must remain without an answer. 

As regards human activity and the use of the present 
redemption, man's will is left unrestrained, but no 
foresight can answer for mankind. 

As regards the Divine goodness, it is infinite, and no 
limits can be imposed upon its exercise; no favours 
bestowed can exhaust it ; who could dare to say, in theory, 
that two redemptions would be beyond God's grace ? 

The question is merely evaded by maintaining, that 
the present redemption is sufficient : yes, without doubt, 
it is sufficient ; but, as it never constrains a single in- 
dividual, it does not constrain mankind, and the choice 
which shall be made by a free being is, for us, necessarily 
a matter of uncertainty. 

On the other hand, it is idle to pretend to remove 
those doubts by merely quoting texts from the Gospel 
on the perpetuity of Christianity. It is indisputable 
that Christ is presented in the Gospel as the only 
Saviour (1), and his work as a unique work (2); it is 
indisputable that Christianity is given in revelation as 
the definitive religion of mankind, and the question is 
therefore decided for the believer who believes in the 
Divine character of revelation. We must admit, however, 
that the Gospel is then constituted judge in its own 
cause, and the proof is deficient in validity. (3) 

Happily there are two unquestionable guarantees of 
the perpetuity of Christianity, which do not depend 
upon any supposition, and do not rest on any foresight. 



ITS INDEPENDENCE. 341 

First, Christianity is, by its very nature, independ- 
ent of every thing which is terrestrial and human. 

Christianity, in its essence, is independent of loca- 
lities ; there are no sacred places ; it is not confined to 
any point on the globe ; it belongs neither to Sinai nor 
Calvary. Should Jerusalem and Rome, Wittenberg 
and Geneva, disappear from the face of the earth and 
the places thereof remain unknown, Christianity would 
lose nothing. 

The sign of a temporary religion, and of every false 
religion, is the being necessarily bound to fixed places 
and to chosen sanctuaries. (4) 

Christianity is independent of climates ; all zones of 
the globe are equally suitable to truth ; all parts of 
nature are equal, because under every aspect there is 
nothing to be seen but monuments of the greatness of 
God, and the theatre of actual progress. The voice 
of the Creator is every where heard. Christianity 
peoples the solitude of the deserts, the ocean, and the 
heavens ; it renders the most savage countries mild, and 
beautifies the rudest regions ; it adds a charm to the 
most delightful scenes, to the teeming riches of the 
earth ; and every where the same, by its powerful and 
faithful identity, it rules the infinite variety of nature ; 
it is every where at home, its country is the world. (5) 

The impress of a definite locality is one of the cha- 
racteristics of all false religions : Egypt is necessary for 
the symbolism of the valley of the Nile ; India and its 
rivers for the religion of Brahma ; Greece, for the my- 
thology of Homer ; the North for that of Odin, and the 
glowing warmth of the south for Mahometanism. In 
all such works of man, geography subjugates and fixes 
limits to religion ; faith becomes a calculation of lati- 
tude and longitude. 

q s 



342 PERPETUITY OF CHRISTIANITY : 

Christianity is independent of social order, whatever 
be the nature of its legislation : it modifies and adopts 
it; it ameliorates forms of government by subjecting 
them to its influence ; it has passed through them all ; 
it has had a vast course of experience, from the despo- 
tism of a single tyrant to that of the multitude, from 
the most regular and well defined order to the most 
tumultuous and changeable anarchy. It has been 
already shown, that Christianity, from its very com- 
mencement, had taken its precautions on this point, by 
being careful not to mix itself up with the politics of 
the hour ;. by having, so to speak, no political opinions, 
except in theory, certain that its theory would in time 
make its way. (See Book V. Chap, lv.) 

Religions of human origin have always identified 
themselves with the political condition of the nations 
which they converted, or have adopted as the object of 
their mission, the attainment of political ascendency. The 
castes of the East are institutions much more religious 
than political. The oracle of Delphi was the echo of the 
Amphictyonic council. The Pontifex Maximus among 
the Romans played a character so much more political 
than religious, that the title was retained by the Christian 
emperors for the sake of its name and civil influence. 
What would Islamism be without the Caliphate ; and in 
Christianity, what is the papacy without power and 
without political office ? Papal supremacy received its 
death-blow, whose effects, though slow, are inevitable, in 
consequence of the spirit of papal supremacy, the deve- 
lopments which it took, and the pretensions which it 
maintained from the moment in which it attempted to 
secure a preponderance of the spiritual over the tem- 
poral power. It is condemned by the very principle of 
its institution — to govern all or to govern nothing ; to- 



ITS INDEPENDENCE. 343 

trample upon the necks of kings, and to seal every 
charter with the fisherman's ring ; or to dwindle away in 
its decline till it comes to nothing, till at length ec- 
clesiastical Rome ends, in its turn, by the reign of an 
Augustulus. 

It is essential to remember, that human religions have 
always been faithful to their principles, either by allying 
themselves to temporal power, or by usurping it ; whilst 
Christianity has been faithless to its principles, when- 
ever it has entered upon this fatal path, which at once 
falsified its character and fettered its power. 

It is still more essential to remark, that one of the 
purest glories of Christianity, and one of the clearest 
proofs of its Divine origin, is its independence of social 
and political order, of forms of government and legis- 
lation, though by no means insensible to them. Far 
from this, it cannot be so. It is a superiority, and never 
an indifference ; it is such a superiority, that the most 
thorough revolutions of political societies are only^ in the 
eye of religion, the discipline of virtue and means of 
progress. It avails itself of them to increase and im- 
prove its influence and action. 

We see that Christianity, far from denying patriotism, 
exalts it ; but it purifies and directs its aims. Patri- 
otism is one of the living powers of human nature, and 
Christians have need and use for them all. In fact, 
patriotism is merely one of the manifestations of the 
affections ; and the use of Christianity is to regulate all 
the tendencies of our nature, and to harmonise the 
directions of each. 

Hence arises the vast difference between Pagan and 
Christian patriotism ; the one was founded upon egotism, 
and had but one principle of action, — that there was not 
room enough in the world for Rome and Carthage ; the 

q 4 



344 PERPETUITY OF CHRISTIANITY: 

other is founded upon the law of charity and brotherhood, 
of which it is one of the applications, and which pro- 
ceeds from and upon the principle, that the advantage 
of one people cannot be turned to the injury and detri- 
ment of another. 

Finally, Christianity is independent of degrees of 
civilisation ; and this fact is a still further evident proof 
of its Divine origin. 

Civilisation is the product of the intellectual power ; 
and we have seen, that Christianity is not wholly, is 
indeed far from being, a system of instruction. 

As it addresses itself to all the tendencies, it may 
reign and regulate even when the intellectual power is 
in a low state of cultivation ; when manners and ideas 
are still in a stage of barbarism, when civilisation has 
scarcely begun to dawn on the summits of social life ; 
for summits there always are. 

Christianity addresses itself to the tendencies most 
easily awakened, and whose education is the promptest : 
to the powers of enjoyment, and it thereby wins souls 
by happiness and peace ; to the affections, and it capti- 
vates them by love ; to conscience, and it causes it to 
respond to the instinctive voice of the moral sense ; 
to religiousness, and it gives it, from the first, means of 
fuller satisfaction. 

The flexibility with which Christianity, without 
abandoning any principle, without entering into any 
compact with ignorance and barbarism, can make its 
power felt and make progress in such a melancholy 
state of human society, and establish itself in the midst 
of it to ameliorate its condition, arises from the marked 
and complete distinctness among our tendencies. 

Is this to allege, that Christianity dreads light, con- 
demns the amenities of life and its intellectual enjoy- 



ITS INDEPENDENCE. 345 

ments, and refuses to favour them ? By no means. 
Revelation, as we have said, could only be given to 
intellectual beings ; and, assuredly, Christianity has 
shown from its commencement how little apprehension- 
it has of contact with civilisation. It was at the doors 
of the great centres of the civilisation of antiquity — in 
Antioch, Athens, Corinth, Ephesus, Rome, and Alex- 
andria, — that it first knocked to obtain admission into 
their habitations. 

As regards renunciations, the only renunciation which 
the Gospel consecrates, is that which God imposes when 
the dispensations of his Providence deprive us of the 
blessings we possess ; there is no trace in the Gospel of 
that fanatical renunciation which consists in inflicting 
miseries upon oneself. 

Deprivation is refusal. No one has a right to refuse 
the gifts of God. When God bestows wealth, he 
wishes us to be rich in the spirit of the Gospel ; we 
have no right to prefer another destiny and another 
tack, to reduce ourselves to poverty, and to try to be 
poor in the spirit of the Gospel. This would be to 
attempt to make our own position in the world, and tq 
fix our own sphere, which it is not for us to do, but for 
God. (6) 

Thus, Christianity has carefully guarded itself from 
drawing any limit between the necessary and the super- 
fluous ; from saying to civilisation what the voice of 
God said to the waves of the sea : " Thus far shalt thou 
go ! " Christianity leaves civilisation to its own free 
course and development, sure that the principles of 
purity and love will suffice to moderate and guide it, so 
that excesses of all kinds and differences repugnant to 
its spirit and objects will be checked and prevented. 

Does it follow, that a Ciovis and an Alfred will be 
q 5 



346 PERPETUITY OF CHRISTIANITY: 

Christians like a Coligny and a Washington ; an humble 
artisan, though a faithful member of one of our churches, 
like a Newton or a Leibnitz ; an inhabitant of the half- 
civilised islands of the South Seas, like an inhabitant of 
the great cities of Europe ? Undoubtedly not ; but 
the direction of the tendencies among them all will be 
Christian. 

. Far from entering into compacts with barbarism, 
Christianity, when it comes into contact with savages, 
ought to begin by making them men in order to be able 
to make them truly Christians. 

And what completes the proof of the fact ,that Chris- 
tianity is independent of the degree of social culture, 
although it favours civilisation and prefers its highest 
degrees, is, that it could never convert barbarism by 
making any concession of principles ; for such conces- 
sions, instead of leading to its triumph, would speedily 
ensure its destruction. 

Independent of every thing which is earthly and 
temporal, independent of nature, which is merely the 
field of labour in which its progress is accomplished, 
and independent of mankind, which is its disciple, 
Christianity is definitive, because there is nothing in 
this world which can destroy it. However high the 
waves which the storms of this world may raise, the 
Gospel cannot be overwhelmed. However dreadful 
the ruin and desolation they may produce, the Gospel 
will survive them all. (7) 



ITS ACCORD WITH OUR TENDENCIES. 347 

CHAP. LXII. 

SECOND GUARANTEE ; ITS ACCORD WITH OUR TENDENCIES. 

The second guarantee of perpetuity which Christianity 
affords is, in one sense, the strongest — because it is the 
most subjective. It consists in this, that Christianity 
exhausts the tendencies. (8) 

It exhausts them, because it is itself inexhaustible ; 
an idea already presented in the appreciation of revela- 
tion, properly so called. 

And it is inexhaustible, because it touches on all sides 
upon the infinite. 

Addressing itself to the intellectual powers, it brings 
them into contact with truth, infinite, supreme, abso- 
lute ; it leads and compels reason constantly to strike 
against the boundary which separates it from the infi- 
nite — to remove the barrier still further, but to find it 
again erected anew before its steps. (9) 

Addressing itself to the moral power, Christianity 
exhausts it, because it is satisfied with nothing less than 
perfect holiness. (10) 

Addressing itself to the power of the affections, 
Christianity exhausts it by demanding a boundless love 
of God — a love of our fellow men equal to that which 
we feel for ourselves, and by assimilating these two 
commandments. (11) 

Addressing itself to our sensitiveness, Christianity 
exhausts it by exhorting us to aim at a happiness per- 
fect and eternal, not to be satisfied with less, and thus 
to find a counterbalance for the miseries of life. (12) 

Finally, addressing itself to our religiousness, Chris- 
tianity exhausts it, and measures the depth of that 
which appears the least capable of being sounded, by 

q 6 



348 PERPETUITY OF CHRISTIANITY. 

showing that aspiration towards God should eternally 
become more and more identified with our feelings, that 
the resemblance of the creature to the Creator should 
be infinitely progressive. (13) 

Why should we hear of a new Christianity, a new 
religion coming to occupy an empty place ? It would 
find nothing to ripen. So far from the place being 
empty, it is filled. It is obvious, that a religion which 
thus exhausts the tendencies by fully occupying them, 
is the definitive religion of mankind. 

Christianity takes possession of the whole man, 
and has left no portion of him to be occupied by sys- 
tems of false religion, which would attempt its over- 
throw. (14) 

The last characteristic equally subjective, and one 
connected with the preceding, will serve to complete 
the proof of the perpetuity of Christianity. It could 
not exhaust and satisfy the tendencies, were it not 
equally suited to both sexes. No false religion has ever 
even attempted to solve the problem ; none has ever 
tried to assign to man his sphere, and to woman hers : 
and nevertheless to found an altar, where both might 
kneel without any difference in worship — and to open 
up a heaven to which both might aspire with a common 
hope, and enter upon the same footing. The law of 
Moses itself had its court for the men, more sacred and 
nearer to the sanctuary than that of the women, because 
it recognised a shade of distinction in holiness between 
the sexes. Christianity, alone, receives them by the 
same title, into the same church, and leads them towards 
the same immortality. (15) 



UTILITY OF CHRISTIANITY. 349 

CHAP. LXIII. 

DIRECT AND INDIRECT UTILITY OP CHRISTIANITY. 

This exact and perfect accordance between the Gospel 
and human tendencies is the source of a double power 
in Christianity, which it alone, amongst all religions, has 
proved able to develop. 

Christianity, in fact, is endowed, so to speak, with 
two ^orts of usefulness, distinct although harmonious, 
cherished and supported by one another. 

It is directly useful to believers. 

It is indirectly useful to those who either reject or 
are ignorant of it. (16) 

In other words, it is the direct means of redemption, 
or of return towards God, to its adherents, — and the 
indirect means which prepares, commences, and facili- 
tates the redemption, the return towards God, of those 
who live in ignorance of Christianity, who have repelled, 
or who despise it. 

Its direct usefulness, as we have seen, embraces the 
whole man, in all his being, his lot, his character, and 
his temperament ; in his death and his immortality ; in 
a word, in the whole of his progress, in all the resem- 
blance of the creature to the Creator. 

This direct and personal value appears to be some- 
times compromised ; there are Christians by profession 
whom redemption does not appear to have redeemed, 
Christians in possession of the means of progress, and 
who retrograde instead of advancing. (17) 

This shows that the direct advantage of Christianity 
is always in proportion to the use which the believer 
makes of its privileges — to the individual and private 



350 DIRECT AND INDIRECT 

working out of the Gospel and its objects by each 
individual Christian. (18) 

The indirect use of Christianity consists entirely in 
the impulse which it has given and gives to the moral 
power, and to the power of the affections. 

To the moral power (19) : for if there is more virtue, 
purity, justice, and peace, among mankind, since the 
introduction of Christianity, who can doubt that step 
by step the whole of the human race will be profited 
and regenerated by its influence? 

To the power of the affections (20). Christianity 
prompts this power to embrace the whole family of 
man, by constraining Christians to acknowledge all men 
as brethren — and to act as if they were so ; who 
can doubt, that the most important consequences have 
resulted and daily result from the application of this 
principle — advantages both proximate and remote ? 

Remote and proximate ; for the indirect influence of 
Christianity makes itself felt within the circle of its 
professors by those who are only Christians in name ; 
and without Christendom, by those who are ignorant of 
it, and have no idea of the source from whence the 
blessing flows. 

By an immediate and evident impulse upon Christians, 
and by a tacit and latent influence, more or less remote 
or proximate, upon Gentiles of every class, Christianity 
gently and imperceptibly permeates the arteries and 
veins of the whole social system ; it softens manners, 
dissipates prejudices, calms hatred, expands benevolence, 
and enlarges sympathies; it keeps always standing at 
the door, and knocking sometimes with a gentle touch, 
and sometimes with a thundering noise, and at length 
causes its voice to be heard and finds admission. 

In the midst of a generation in which the Christian 



UTILITY OF CHRISTIANITY. 351 

feeling is weak, it inspires a tardy regret at being in 
such a condition, and secures the advantage to which 
this regret for the past gives birth in spite of the con- 
duct of the present; the result is, that the generation 
which follows is more Christian than that by which it 
was preceded. 

It is, however, above all, in the spirit of public 
institutions and laws, that the indirect power of Chris- 
tianity is visible. 

Most modern codes and charters have been drawn 
up by minds very little impressed with Christianity, 
and fixed much more earnestly upon the order and 
progress of the present than upon any thing relating to 
the future ; they have been guided by what was most 
urgently required, and still Christian progress came in 
for a part in these remodellings of European society ; 
these unbelieving legislators have, in fact, laid down laws 
in which it is impossible to mistake the impress of 
Christianity which lies at their foundation. (21) 

It may be fairly said, without fear of going too far, 
when we remember that the Gospel is eighteen centuries 
old, and consider how young in Europe and its colonies 
true moral and social progress is, retarded by so many 
passions, faults, and errors, — it may be fairly said, 
that all this progress is a reminiscence of the Gospel. 

This double influence of Christianity is, further, a 
splendid and singular proof of its divinity ; truth alone 
possesses so much credit and authority ; and the Chris- 
tian religion alone, among all religions, manifests a 
power of amelioration which extends to its opponents, 
and even to unchristian races of men, wholly with- 
out their knowledge. (22) Christianity resembles the 
sun, which is useful even to the blind. 



352 FUTURE UNIVERSALITY OF CHRISTIANITY. 

CHAP. LXIV. 

FUTURE UNIVERSALITY OF CHRISTIANITY. 

The indirect power of Christianity is a result with 
which it only satisfies itself while waiting for better. Its 
perpetuity implies its future universality. Under the 
empire of the power of the affections, which, as we 
have seen, hinders the possessor of truth from monopo- 
lising it to his own advantage, it becomes necessary 
that Christianity in order to endure must conquer, and 
if it is to endure for ever, it follows that it must reduce 
every thing into subjection to its dominion. (23) 

The power of the affections extended to the whole 
race, necessarily requires the participation with the race 
of the sublime secret of redemption, the only means 
of progress. 

The direction which it gives to human activity, there- 
fore, necessarily impels this power to the work of con- 
verting the world. 

The spirit of proselytism is, therefore, natural to 
Christianity. 

It is only just to say something still more to its 
honour ; Christianity alone, among all religions past 
and present, has succeeded in an extent and description 
of proselytism worthy of the name of religious pro- 
selytism ; other religions have made political and mili- 
tary proselytes — that is, conquests and subjugations 
proscriptions and deportations en masse. The pure and 
specific proselytism of missions was unknown till Chris- 
tianity appeared, and is adopted by it alone. Who has 
ever heard of a Mahometan missionary society? Con- 
version by simple persuasion belongs to the province 
of truth alone — and Christianity feels that it is truth. 



FUTURE UNIVERSALITY OF CHRISTIANITY. 353 

The future universality of Christianity is therefore 
certain; it cannot remain satisfied with any smaller 
hope ; its proselytism can never be extinguished till 
there shall be no longer a proselyte to make ; shall not 
the very last to be made have a soul to be saved ? 

Its proselytism embraces conversions of two kinds : 
that of the Gentiles without, who are not Christians 
even by profession ; that of the Gentiles within, who 
are Christians in name and form, by birth, and by re- 
putation, but not in fact. 

Of these two species of conquests, which ought to be 
pursued with equal zeal, it is very difficult to say which 
is the more difficult, the more urgent, and which will 
be the slower in its accomplishment. (24) 

Christianity, however, has time for the work. 

By consecrating monogamy it converts all its people 
into active races; and activity, so seconded and influ- 
enced, always manifests itself in favour of the principle 
whence it derives its aliment. 

There is, therefore, an intimate relation, a reciprocal 
power of impulse, between monogamy, which the Gospel 
requires, the nature of the activity which monogamy 
favours, and the proselytism which the Gospel under- 
takes. 

The moral and religious conquests of Christianity are 
and will be favoured by two facts, whose influence is 
not so great as to lead us to see afar off the time at 
which mankind will be completely Christian, but whose 
reach is so vast as to bear a just proportion to the 
greatness of the work — - the conversion of the world. 

First, that Christianity, even when it wears the garb 
of the most puritanic forms, can never find an entrance 
any where without being accompanied by civilisation. 

This arises from the fact, already established, that 



354< FUTURE UNIVERSALITY OF CHRISTIANITY. 

Christianity embraces the whole man, addresses itself to 
all his tendencies ; whenever it excites and directs one 
or other of them, it ends by ruling them all ; the in- 
tellectual power is, therefore, always on its part under 
the dominion of Christian influence, and civilisation is 
nothing more than intelligence applied to the wants of 
social life upon earth. 

It follows, that religion and civilisation render each 
other mutual aid in this conquest of the world, under- 
taken under the banner of the Gospel, and are never 
completely separated, although in the long commence- 
ment of the association of one nationality more to 
Christendom, sometimes the proselytism of civilisation, 
and sometimes that of religion, prevails. 

The second fact, which comes in aid of Christianity 
in its victorious march through generations and ages, is, 
that by a providential care, Christendom is more power- 
ful of itself than all the rest of mankind, though it forms 
but a small portion of the world. (25) Numerical in- 
feriority is largely compensated by superiority of know- 
ledge, and the accord of will which subsists among 
Christians. For however loosely cemented the league 
among Christian nations may be, it is certain that 
Christendom is the mistress of the world. Nothing 
can become great except by its permission ; it has 
placed its foot upon every shore; it rules the whole 
activity of the whole world, and its banner is the only 
one which is wafted by the winds of all quarters of the 
globe. (26) 

It is since Christianity has begun to resume its true 
position, and to stand upon its true basis — freedom of 
inquiry; it is since Christianity has begun to break 
with the system of authority, and to disengage itself 



FUTURE UNIVERSALITY OF CHRISTIANITY. 355 

from the chimera of infallibility, that its political power 
has assumed a fuller dominion among men. 

The most flourishing times of Islamism, those in 
which the east of Asia was not even touched by the 
Gospel, coincide with the periods in which the system 
of authority and the reign of infallibility flourished in 
all their gloomy power ; in which Catholicism was in- 
volved in its thickest darkness ; in which Christendom, 
almost dumb, prostrated itself before the triple tiara in 
willing subjection. This holds good of the period from 
Charles Martel and the battle of Poictiers, till that of 
John of Austria and the battle of Lepanto, when the 
ascendant of Islamism reached its end, in the very age 
of the Reformation, and has never since ceased pro- 
gressively to decline. 

The weakness of Islamism dates from the era of the 
Reformation ; and then the east of Asia, for the first 
time, was opened to the influence of the Gospel. 

A singular remark, and strongly confirmatory of these 
reflections, is, that the Crusades, those religious wars, 
which were pre-eminently Catholic, that magnificent 
episode in the epopee of Christianity, did not result in 
proselyting a single nation ; they served the cause of 
civilisation much more than that of faith. 

The course which mankind follow, without as well as 
within Christendom, is favourable to this immense and 
infallible proselytism; this course, even without the 
knowledge of the nations which follow it most rapidly, 
or are just entering upon it, this course tends to unity. 
(27) A fusion of races, an assimilation of nations is 
in progress; all the frontiers are levelled, distances 
diminish, nationalities disappear, sects and forms of 
worship are brought into contact, and regard each other 
on a closer view with less astonishment and animosity, 



356 GRADUAL EMANCIPATION OF CHRISTIANITY. 

Men whose views are short, and whose minds are narrovf, 
look with dissatisfaction and regret upon the disappear- 
ance of the differences which mark and characterise 
older forms of society. We, Christians, are spec- 
tators of a delightful exhibition. — Yes, let nations 
disappear, and leave mankind in their stead ! They 
have tried sometimes to form themselves into leagues 
and alliances ; the best alliance is that of the family — 
the family of Christ. 



CHAP. LXV. 

GRADUAL EMANCIPATION OF CHRISTIANITY. 

In order to advance and conquer, Christianity must 
perfect itself : not in its essence, immutable as truth; 
not in its essence, for there are no two means of pro- 
gress, no two ways of return towards God ; not in its 
essence, for there are not several systems of resemblance 
to God ; there is but one, as there is but one God and 
one Redeemer. Far from modifying its essence, Chris- 
tianity can only become perfect by disengaging itself, 
and by emancipating itself more and more, from all that 
envelopes, represents, and expresses it. 

Every kind of representation — every kind of expres- 
sion is a veil. A theory is perfected, when the veils by 
which it is shaded are raised more and more. Christi- 
anity is perfected and purified, when that which consti- 
tutes its essence pierces the folds that conceal it, and 
manifests itself with a freedom and clearness more and 
more sublime. (28) 

Christianity has, in fact, only one means of triumph 
— that of manifesting itself. From generation to gene- 
ration it says to the Nathaniels : Come and see / 



EMANCIPATION FROM DISCIPLINE. 357 

In proportion as Christianity shall succeed in disen- 
gaging itself from every thing which does not constitute 
its essence, its direct application, its practical utility, — in 
proportion as its means shall become distinct from each 
other, Christianity will advance in the world with a 
more rapid and a surer step. In its unity it will adapt 
itself better to the prodigious differences which exist 
among minds and accelerate its conquest of mankind. 

It is therefore of extreme importance to specify those 
respects in which Christianity must perfect itself; and 
those impediments which obstruct its progress, from 
which it must become free. 

From this examination there will be found to result 
this striking conclusion — that, in the case of Christi- 
anity, emancipation, and perfecting, means to renew its 
early vigour, and to be immersed anew in its Divine 
source. 

This gradual progress towards perfection in Christi- 
anity is a great proof that redemption fully respects 
human freedom — never does violence to, and never pre- 
cipitates the movement of our activity. 

Of these progresses towards the full emancipation of 
Christianity some have been in action for ages, if we may 
so speak, and their value is recognised by general opinion ; 
others are scarcely rising above the horizon of religion 
and begin faintly to dawn. Their day will come, 



CHAP. LXVI. 

1. EMANCIPATION FROM DISCIPLINE. 

The first is emancipation from discipline. 

A system of discipline of manners, whether ecclesi- 
astical in its form or not, is the transference into prac- 



358 EMANCIPATION FROM DISCIPLINE. 

tical rules of those great principles of morality and 
piety which the Gospel prescribes for the direction of 
our activity. 

Whence it follows, that any form of discipline, in 
order fully to attain its object, ought to reach and 
mention every possible case in which activity, become 
Christian, may manifest itself. 

Whence it follows, that a real and complete system 
of discipline, which omits no essential application of the 
Gospel to human life, is impossible. How could we 
expect that every case should be foreseen ? 

In religion, discipline is to piety, what, in politics, 
legislation is to honesty. 

And as legislation can never render a man upright, 
discipline will never render even those who submit to 
it either religious or moral. 

Woe to him, who in civil society has no desire for 
integrity, except according to law; woe to him, who is 
only true and honest, in his religious life, in compliance 
with a system of discipline ! (29) 

Discipline is to so great an extent an impediment to 
true progress, that, seeing the absolute impossibility of 
anticipating all the difficulties and perplexities of life, a 
Christian believer, thrown into the midst of circum- 
stances unforeseen in his discipline, or of duties which 
run counter to its rules, finds himself at once a prey to 
all those troubles of conscience, and to those moral 
doubts, which it is the very object of the Gospel to 
prevent. 

The necessity imposed upon lawgivers to conscience, 
who have promulgated systems of discipline, of foresee- 
ing as much as possible all the varieties of duty, con- 
strains them to descend to details, and to lose them- 



EMANCIPATION FROM DISCIPLINE. 359 

selves in minutiae, in which the greatness and the 
liberty of the Gospel are no longer cognisable. (30) 

This danger leads to one still greater ; by the very 
fact of trying not to overlook any practicable, or any 
possible sin, men have been led to imagine and to spe- 
cify impossible duties as well as impossible sins ; all 
these gratuitous suppositions of obligations to fulfil, and 
of iniquities to avoid, all these pretended moral chi- 
meras, have served to awaken in and suggest to the 
mind unheard of abominations, of which the minds of 
the masses would never otherwise have thought ; crimes 
of various descriptions, too horrible to contemplate, have 
thus been called into life, and the criminality of those 
who unhappily commit them, ought in very many cases 
to be thrown upon those who have called them into 
being. 

The final extension of the spirit of discipline is casu- 
istry. 

A director of conscience is a living discipline ; and 
the smallest danger which the system of dictionaries of 
cases of conscience, or the intervention of an adviser 
who applies them, brings in its train, is that of reducing 
piety, and consequently morality, to mere observances 
(31); that is, to nothing, and sometimes to contributions 
in money, to donations, to endowments, that is, to less 
than nothing. (32) 

It is obvious that the holy independence of Christian 
activity cannot advance under the weight of these irk- 
some fetters ; a system of discipline is the infancy of 
the Christian mind, — Christianity in leading strings. 

Happily Christianity emancipates itself as it grows. 
Look at the Christian societies of the present day : 
those which have retained their ancient discipline, no 
longer follow it ; those which have suffered it to fall 



360 EMANCIPATION FROM DISCIPLINE. 

completely into desuetude, or which have seen it wholly 
swept away by the torrent of political revolutions, find 
themselves the better for the change. Catholicism itself 
begins to give evidence in all quarters of a growing dis- 
trust in the discipline of the Church. 

Regret at this distrust can only be felt for two rea- 
sons : from a love of dominion, or from a spirit of indo- 
lence. 

Men who take pleasure in suppressing the convictions 
and ruling the consciences of their fellowmen, — inqui- 
sitors who aim at constraining others to think after 
their wills, casuists who are eager to make men live 
after their fashion, are all earnest partisans of systems 
of discipline, because they serve as barriers, and sepa- 
rate Christendom into so many entrenched camps, 
within which they shut themselves up in order to exer- 
cise command. 

Men, and still more frequently women, whom indolence 
of mind and heart has lulled asleep, use the discipline 
of their sect as a comfortable pillow ; they follow just 
as far as it leads, and relinquish all attempts at seeking 
to go beyond. Their responsibility is covered, and even 
their consciences are tranquil ; they have followed out 
their system of discipline. (33) These docile pupils of 
ready-made virtues think themselves Christians ! They 
are only monks. 

Moreover, the good which results is only factitious ; 
what is gained in regularity is more than lost in free^ 
dom, fervour and love. 

Thus, it is a matter of rejoicing and of deep admira- 
tion to the true Christian, that the Gospel contains not 
a single trace, not even the shadow of a system of disci- 
pline. 

This, undoubtedly, is one of the great proofs of the 



EMANCIPATION FROM DISCIPLINE. 361 

Divine origin of the Gospel, because it is one proof 
more — and a proof of the fact — that Christianity is 
prepared for all ages, every state of progress, and every 
condition of mankind. 

In the Gospel, the moral law is every where laid 
down — great, simple, absolute, and positive. (34) 

Every where, the application of the law is left to the 
individual conscience. (35) 

There is no where to be found in the Gospel, a sys- 
tem — a body of rules in detail — enjoining even those 
duties, which apparently could be most easily, and with 
the least danger, reduced to a systematic form. 

There is no article upon prayer; we are not even 
enjoined to pray morning and evening. (36) 

There is no article upon public worship, the number 
of its offices, and the frequency of its performance. (37) 

None upon baptism and its conditions. (38) 

None upon the Lord's Supper, the periods of its 
observance, the age proper for communion, and the 
manner of preparation. (39) 

None upon alms-giving. (40) 

None upon oaths — of which there is no formula pre- 
scribed. (41) 

None upon marriage and conjugal life. (42) 

None upon death and mourning. (43) 

And, when we remember that the Gospel succeeded 
the Mosaic law, which constitutes an immense and mi- 
nute system of discipline, it is impossible not to see the 
finger of God in this difference (44), — a difference 
which man in his imprudence, or his pride, has vainly 
attempted to efface. 

It is the aim of the Gospel, to make our responsi- 
bility complete and entire ; and in order that we may 
be responsible we must be perfectly free. (45) 

R 



S62 EMANCIPATION- 

CHAP, lxvii. 

2. EMANCIPATION FROM A CLERICAL HIERARCHY. 

The second emancipation which Christianity will effect 
for itself is intimately connected with the preceding ; 
an emancipation from a hierarchy, or, to speak more 
correctly, from a hierarchical and clerical spirit. 

Christianity began without priests. It had some- 
thing much better than a clergy, it had at its head in- 
spired teachers to lay the foundations of the Church by 
means of a traditional revelation, or in order to main- 
tain it by a written revelation, and thus to place it in a 
condition to dispense with inspiration. 

The apostles were not the only inspired men of 
those days ; their immediate disciples were so also ; the 
Marks, as well as the Peters ; the Timothies, as well as 
the Pauls. 

But, from the origin of Christianity, from the apos- 
tolic age, from the morrow of the Divine foundation of 
the Church, did there exist a clergy, properly so called, 
an ecclesiastical body established upon the basis of a 
hierarchy, and recruiting its ranks according to certain 
conditions ? all historical monuments positively attest 
the very contrary. 

Thus, to quote merely a single example — the ad- 
ministration of the Eucharist — considered at a later 
period in the Church as the duty and privilege of the 
clergy alone — and this, too, to such an extent, that the 
pretension on the part of the laity to celebrate this rite 
was regarded as sacrilege ; the administration of the 
Eucharist in the origin of Christianity was an act of 
domestic worship ; the father of the family brake bread 
and communicated with his family and household. (46) 



FROM A CLERICAL HIERARCHY. 363 

The priestly office, with its incommunicable privi- 
leges, its sacred character, its pretended indelibility, 
and its investiture, to whatever period of remoteness it 
may ascend, is not as old as Christianity. The distinc- 
tion between priest and layman did not commence with 
the Church. 

It was in the nature of things, that modifications 
should soon take place ; the apostles, and the com- 
panions of their labours, become their successors, must 
have sought for colleagues and successors to carry on 
the work, who became the first priests, and recruiting 
themselves, soon formed a clergy from whose ranks the 
people chose their pastors. 

It was not, however, till a very much later period, 
that the people ceased to select men as their spiritual 
chiefs who were not enrolled under the clerical banner. 
It is vain to attempt to deny this sketch, by main- 
taining that the first ecclesiastics were the immediate 
successors of the last inspired men, who by their very 
inspiration were something more than priests, and able 
to confer the priestly office. And once again, even 
during the time when, according to this system, in- 
spiration began to place the management of Christen- 
dom in the hands of a hierarchical body, the heads of 
families administered the communion. 

Christianity, therefore, made its beginning without 
priests. Shall it end in the same manner ? (47) No 
one knows, and, in our opinion, it is of no consequence. 
When Christendom shall have arrived at that point of 
progress in which it will be able to do without the aids 
of a sacred ministry for teaching and worship ; when 
every head of a family shall have become sufficiently 
qualified both to instruct and edify, the distinction 
between clerk and layman will become so little im- 

K 2 



364 EMANCIPATION 

portant, and so little marked, as to produce no incon- 
venience either among congregations or clergy. It is 
certain, that for a period of time, whose limits cannot 
be fixed (48), Christendom cannot dispense with the 
functions of the clerical office. 

If, then, it be necessary to retain and employ a 
priestly order, in what will the emancipation consist 
which our faith may confidently promise itself, and the 
first symptoms of which are already beginning to ap- 
pear ? It will consist in the simple conviction, that it 
is not the priest who constitutes the Church, that the 
Church exists apart from the clergy ; that, consequently, 
a true Christian life, a true return towards God may 
be manifested in all Christian churches (49), whatever 
be the forms, the powers, the investiture, the hierar- 
chical constitution of the clergy which rules them ; 
or, even where they recognise, by name at least, no 
clergy at all, as is the case among some Christian sects. 

The principle, in fact, admits of neither restriction 
nor exception. The Papal system, with or without 
councils, Episcopacy, Presbyterianism, Independency, 
'the negative system of the Society of Friends, all the 
clerical organisations of Christendom are governed by 
this principle, that the priest does not constitute the 
Church. (50) 

It by no means follows, that the organisation of the 
clergy is a question of indifference, that there is neither 
gain nor loss, danger nor safety, in silently performing 
the office of pastor to one's self, as among the Society 
of Friends ; in placing our confidence in the guidance of 
a minister, himself the head of a family, and chosen by 
heads of families, or in an unmarried priest, whose chief 
resides beyond the limits of our country ; in not wish- 
ing to receive the communion, except from the hands 



FROM A CLERICAL HIERARCHY. 365 

of an Anglican bishop, who believes himself to be 
lineally descended from the apostles, without a single 
break in the chain of succession; or, finally, in pros- 
trating one's self before a pontiff who uses the language 
of superb and learned irony, by assuming the title of 
servant of the servants of God, whilst he knows that 
his adherents call him Vicar of Jesus Christ, and Vice- 
gerent of God upon earth. No, certainly ; these are 
questions of the highest importance for the future of 
Christianity, and the rapidity of its progress (51), and 
have, consequently, a real importance in respect to in- 
dividual progress. 

It is, therefore, the duty of every Church to adopt a 
ministry whose institution may be as nearly as possible 
in accordance with the spirit of the Gospel; and it is 
the duty of every Christian to attach himself to that 
Christian community, where (other things being equal) 
the clerical organisation is the most evangelical. 

And it is in this way, that papacy will decay and 
die ; it will not be overturned, it will be deserted ; it 
will remain alone, and from thenceforth will exist no 
longer ; for there are two necessary conditions in every 
despotism, — the despot and his subjects. 

Nevertheless, whatever may be the importance of 
the question, it does not touch the essence of Chris- 
tianity, and emancipation will consist, not in dissembling 
the extent and seriousness of the question, but in not 
making the Christian life, the fruit of redemption, de- 
pendent upon its solution. 

What enlightened Christian can doubt, that the 
Christian life is possible under the elder among the 
Friends, who presides in silence ; under a Protestant 
pastor who receives his commission from a consistory or 
£ synod ; under an Anglican bishop who pretends to 

ft 3 



366 EMANCIPATION 

receive his from the* apostles ; and under the Pope, 
who gives himself out to be the successor of St. Peter ? 
We go still further, and have no hesitation in saying 
that a sincere Pope may be a real Christian. 

This independence of the Christian life, everywhere 
possible, to whatever confession a man may belong, 
whatever form of Church government he may recognise, 
is one of the most beautiful characteristics, and one of 
the greatest advantages of Christianity. This inde- 
pendence is indispensable to it. In the labyrinth of 
life, in which we all wander, who knows whither the 
thread which conducts him will lead ? who knows 
whether he is destined to become old, or where he may 
die ? Can a Christian carry his priesthood always with 
him, and what would the Christian life be, if redemp- 
tion were really bound to a certain hierarchical and 
ecclesiastical constitution ? Will his progress towards 
God be arrested because a guide no longer goes by his 
side ? His only resource is to be a guide to himself, 
and to recognise the truth, — that the priest does not 
constitute the Church. 

Here, again, appears the divinity of the Gospel in all 
its fulness. 

It is impossible to discover in the Gospel the regular 
organisation of an ecclesiastical body. 

All the titles indiscriminately given to the men who 
seconded the apostles in the work of converting the 
souls of men, or who succeeded them and maintained 
the Christian congregations, are designations, not of 
rank, but of functions, or rather of labours, and do not 
present the slightest trace of a hierarchy. (52) 

There are examples of Christian communities, formed 
like synagogues, with elders to direct their affairs. (53) 

There are cases in which the apostles, on quitting a 



FROM A CLERICAL HIERARCHY. 367 

city or a province, left successors behind them to follow 
up their work. (54) 

And, again, others, in which, according to Jewish 
forms, hands were laid upon the men who devoted 
themselves to the duty of ministering, that is, those 
men were blessed at the opening of their labours, or at 
their entering on some special mission. (55) 

But there is no where to be found in the Gospel the 
positive constitution of a clergy with its conditions of 
noviciate and ordination, — its privileges and its rights, 
— its investiture and insignia, — its separate place in the 
community, and the exclusive power of administering 
the sacraments. (56) 

It is obvious, that the Gospel desired to leave, and 
has left, every Christian community free to organise 
itself, and to govern itself, according to its own convic- 
tions ; and, d fortiori, every Christian free to attach 
himself to any clergy, who, according to his belief, best 
represent Christianity. (57) 

This emancipation is in process of accomplishment, 
and more advanced than is usually supposed. It has 
only begun to make a gradual progress since the Re- 
formation, because Protestantism revived in the Chris- 
tian world the principle that no man has a right to 
stand between man and his God, between the believer 
and Christ. 

Some, perhaps, may say, why not go further in virtue 
of these broad principles ? What difficulty have you 
in maintaining, that the Christian may eifect his salva- 
tion and work out his redemption, without any recog- 
nition of the clergy at all ? 

Pure Christianity positively interdicts him, because 
the tendency of the affections forbid him so to do. The 
Gospel would receive a deep and grievous wound from 

B 4 



368 EMANCIPATION 

such a course, it desires that the religion of each may 
profit all ; isolation profits no one, neither the isolated 
nor those from whom he withdraws, and to attach one's 
self to a Church, is, in the present state of Christianity, 
and for long to come will be, to attach one's self to a 
clergy. (58) 



CHAP. LXVIII. 

3. EMANCIPATION FROM AUTHORITY. 

The third species of emancipation, on the way of which 
Christianity has entered, is easier than the preceding 
one, because it is more theoretical, and, also, more ad- 
vanced. This emancipation is freedom from systems of 
authority. 

Authority, in matters of religion, is always at the 
same time abstract and personalised. 

As abstract, it is composed of traditions and form- 
ulas. 

Tradition is merely the whole of those ancient and 
accredited writings which treat of religion, and the 
vague sound, the hereditary echo, of the convictions of 
the past. 

Formulas are enunciations of dogmas, which, under 
various names, constitute summaries of religious 
doctrines. 

An authority, purely abstract, would however leave 
too much independence to faith ; freedom would assume 
the upper hand. In order to gain power man must go 
beyond abstractions, it is necessary to exercise a 
despotism ; and, thus, authority in matters of religion is 
always exercised, either by an individual or a body. 



FROM AUTHORITY. 369 

When religious authority is individual, it assumes 
the papal, primatial, or episcopal form. 

If religious authority is collective, it will be exercised 
by that inappreciable body, which is called the Church, 
and which must appoint or recognise delegates, repre- 
sentatives, leaders, formed into assemblies more or less 
numerous, and more or less permanent. 

The function, whether of the individual or the body, 
whether autocrat or depository, of religious truth upon 
earth, is always the preservation and interpretation of 
tradition and formulas; and, in case of need, the publica- 
tion and promulgation of the latter. 

Religious authority, in whatever hands it may be 
placed, can only be exercised in two ways : by excom- 
munications, or by admissions ; it opens and shuts the 
Church at its will (59) ; it declares a man to be a 
member of the Church, or that he has ceased to be so ; 
in a word, it forces a man to go out, sometimes it forces 
him to enter, or, at least, judges whether he is worthy 
of entering. It acts in this way, or it does not act at 
all ; it is only a power after this manner and at this 
price ; it holds the keys of the Church or it has nothing 
in its hands. 

In its periods of glory religious authority lays claim 
to and exercises the double right of compelling men to 
come in (60), or of casting them out (61) ; it is, at the same 
time, positive and negative, positive, by persecuting, 
in order to recruit the Church ; negative, by expelling 
rebels from its bosom. 

In its periods of decline, religious authority resigns 
itself, not, perhaps, without regret, to a negative action, 
and is obliged to content itself with excommunication ; 
it only drives men out ; which, in all respects, is much 
easier than to compel them to come in. 

R 5 



370 EMANCIPATION 

It follows, from the foregoing, that by the very nature 
of things, religious authority, as the guardian of tradi- 
tions and formulas of faith, is obliged to require public 
adhesion to those traditions and formulas which it has 
consecrated as the expression of truth, in order to 
know whom to admit and whom to exclude ; and, more- 
over, the signs and guarantees of this adhesion may 
vary from time to time. 

And as traditions have always something vague in 
their nature, which would render adhesion deficient in 
precision and of little worth, religious authority in 
general, principally demands an assent, more or less 
explicit, to formulas of faith. 

This is so manifestly true, that had adhesion to tradi- 
tions sufficed to produce a proper docility, religious 
authority would never have felt the need of drawing 
up formulas of faith ; it has, in fact, only been com- 
pelled to adopt this means, in order to ensure the sub- 
mission of men's minds. 

Tin's manner of exercising religious authority is 
therefore inevitable ; it is, in truth, a condition of its 
very existence. What would be thought of a council, 
whether assembled at Nice or Trent, of a synod, whether 
met at La Rochelle or Dort, which should promulgate 
the articles of its faith, the minutes of its sittings, with- 
out asking people to adhere to them ? This would 
merely be to hold a solemn assembly in order to abdi- 
cate its functions. 

The formula to which adhesion is required, whatever 
may be its tenor, is never any thing more than an inter- 
pretation of revelation, because religious authority can 
only aim at a single end, a single one at least, which it 
avows : that of securing the benefits of redemption to 



FROM AUTHORITY. 



371 



the greatest number, or, at least, to all those whom the 
Lord elects. 

Hence, it appears, that religious authority would sim- 
plify the question and its own task, and render its 
dominion easier and more certain, by adopting revelation 
itself as a religious formula. 

This would be useless, and religious authority would 
dispossess itself of its claims by acting thus. It would 
dispossess itself in favour of God ; but this would be, 
nevertheless, an abdication, because to require men to 
submit to the Bible alone, is merely to require each to 
submit to his own interpretation of the Bible ; it is to 
refer every believer to his own conscience, and to his 
own reason, by the light of which he reads the Bible ; 
it would be to render every believer his own master and 
his own guide in matters of faith. Religious authority 
would no longer have any existence : from whence 
follows, as has been stated, the invincible necessity for 
every religious authority to promulgate a creed as the 
interpretation of revelation, to maintain and enforce 
it, to mark every one who accepts it with a sign of 
grace, and whoever rejects it with the stamp of repro- 
bation. 

It is vainly pretended that the competence of reli- 
gious authority is reduced to the duty of determining 
the traditions of the Church and the sense of Scripture. 
To determine traditions is, however, to discuss them 
and compare them with others ; and the sense of a book 
never can be determined without examination. In a 
word, to determine is to interpret. 

But any religious authority which adopts and pro- 
mulgates a formulary of truth, and requires others to 
adopt and subscribe it, by the very fact proscribes the 
right of examination. 

R 6 



372 EMANCIPATION 

To punish the result and exercise, is, in reality, to 
proscribe the right. 

For, to examine implies to conclude, examination is 
only undertaken for this purpose ; and to tolerate ex- 
amination only on condition of arriving at a foregone 
conclusion, and to punish by excommunication who- 
ever does not adopt the sense adopted by the authority, 
is to proscribe the right of examination by punishing 
the consequences of its exercise. 

To say to conscience, to reason : Examine freely ; 
but should your examination terminate in adopting un- 
consecrated conclusions, excommunication is ready — is 
to destroy freedom in its results. Instead of practising 
this deceit upon liberty, it would be better to say to 
conscience : Do not examine { and to reason : Abdicate 
your functions ! 

Religious authority cannot, by any means, escape the 
necessity of condemning every species of examination, 
by attempting to confine the circle of its dominion to 
the fundamental truths of religion. 

To reduce into creeds, and to decree the absolute 
or saving truth of such and such doctrines, seeing 
that their importance has been previously declared, is 
always to forbid examination. To forbid any con- 
clusion, either against the doctrines specified in the 
formula, or against the relative and comparative import- 
ance of these doctrines, comes to the same ; it is always 
to forbid examination. The usurpation is no better 
avoided by attempting to trace a line of demarcation 
between the dogma on the one hand, and discipline, 
worship, and morality, on the other. 

When does dogma finish, and do all the rest begin ? 

And to whom shall it be referred to draw this line of 
separation ? 



FROM AUTHORITY. 37 3 

To authority ? Examination is so far proscribed. 

To examination? The whole question is open, arid 
authority is no more. 

From the whole of the foregoing, this important con- 
clusion follows, that there is no resting-place between a 
system of authority and that of entire freedom. No 
mean is tenable — no compromise possible. The two 
modes of decision are irreconcilable. Man, as a moral, 
intelligent, and religious being, adopts the one or the 
other; he searches after and chooses truth, or he waits 
for and receives it ; it comes from his own resources, 
or from that of another ; he draws it from revelation 
on his own responsibility, or it is pointed out to him 
authoritatively ; it is determined for each one by him- 
self or by another. 

All that has been said is neither Protestant nor 
Catholic, but applies to religious authority in all 
Churches and in all sects of Christianity ; it applies to 
authority, whether it be Ultra-montane or Galiican, 
Lutheran or Calvinist ; it applies to the authority of 
bulls and briefs, and to that of confessions of faith and 
articles of agreement ; it applies to the authority of an 
oecumenical council, in which Papal legates have their 
seats, as well as to that of a Protestant synod. . . . 
one great proof more, of the impossibility of effecting the 
smallest reconciliation between entire freedom of opinion 
and the system of formularies of faith. Despotism over 
thought is everywhere the same, and it does not possess 
two kinds of chains to rivet upon its slaves. Freedom 
of thought is everywhere the same, and demands always- 
the unrestricted exercise of one and the same right. 

In reality, what shade of difference is there before 
God and man — between the Catholic church, pro- 
claiming that it alone is in possession of truth, and de» 



374 EMANCIPATION 

claring that " out of the Church there is no salvation," 
and any Protestant Church whatsoever, ratifying and 
consecrating in its profession of faith the creed of St. 
Athanasius, whose words are, "And whosoever doth not 
believe this truth shall perish everlastingly ? " 

In both cases the permission to inquire and conclude 
is granted under the threat of eternal condemnation (62), 
if the results of the examination and inquiry are not 
wholly in accordance with this pretended holy Catholic 
faith. 

It is in another respect that religious authority differs 
among Catholics and Protestants : among Catholics it 
lays claim to infallibility ; Protestants do not put for- 
ward this pretension. 

Whence, it follows, that religious authority among 
Catholics, based upon the principle of infallibility, is 
perfectly legitimate, if that principle be admitted. 

And among Protestants, starting from the profession 
not of infallibility, but from the duty of examination, in 
order to end in the proscription of inquiry — it moves in 
a vicious circle — is illegitimate, and, in consequence, a 
denial of the principle of freedom. 

The mode of destroying authority in the Catholic 
Church is to prove the unsoundness of its claim to 
infallibility, which serves as its foundation. 

That of putting down authority in the Protestant 
Church is to recall men's attention to its origin, to the 
point whence it started, and to investigate its foun- 
dations. 

Not that the reformers proclaimed in themselves the 
right of free inquiry, they did better — they denied 
infallibility; and in virtue of that negation, and by the 
force of circumstances, they inquired. We, in our turn, 
exercise precisely the same freedom. From age to age 



FROM AUTHORITY. 375 

the process will continue, in virtue of the same right by 
which the first reformers exercised the privilege, or 
rather recommenced it ; for inquiry is as old as Chris- 
tianity. (63) 

Whence, it follows, that the Reformation is not ended, 
and never will end. Our father's commenced it, we 
continue, and our successors will continue it after us ; 
which merely amounts to saying, that there will always 
remain subject matter for inquiry, and that religion and 
revelation are inexhaustible. 

By this last series of deductions, we see the immense 
service which the Reformation has rendered to the world, 
by having restored to Christianity the element of pro- 
gress, which Catholicism had extirpated. 

Catholic Christianity is fixed, stereotyped, stagnant, 
because there is nothing to perfect in infallibility. 

Protestant Christianity is, from its nature, perfectible, 
and, consequently, the future belongs to it. 

It does not enter into the design of this work to 
discuss the supremacy of St. Peter (64), the infallibility 
of the Pope, the bondage of the Church (65), or the 
rights of free inquiry* The whole work is a protest 
against the one, and in favour of the other. These are, 
moreover, settled questions ; and whatever religious 
authority still remains in Christendom, whether Catholic 
or Protestant, does not inspire the shadow of anxiety 
to the genuine faith of the Gospel. The wrecks of the 
chain that lie sometimes scattered by the sides of the 
way, merely serve to indicate the path of freedom. 
When matters have gone so far that the successor of 
the bishops of Rome — that is, the incarnation of infal- 
libility — is reduced to the necessity of writing articles 
in newspapers; and when the Protestant authorities 
which still survive, exercise their greatest ingenuity 



376 EMANCIPATION 

adroitly to explain in what sense (as much mitigated 
and softened as possible) they require men to sign con- 
fessions of faith, we may reasonably hope that free 
inquiry in matters of religion has decidedly gained its 
suit in the court of Christendom. 

Without, however, being anxious concerning the 
future, it is wise to prepare for it. It is necessary that 
pure Christianity, in order to bring into its fold indivi- 
duals and nations, who either reject or are ignorant of 
its truths, should place itself more than ever upon the 
footing of freedom ; it is necessary to renounce autho- 
rity under all its forms and in all its degrees ; it is 
necessary to proclaim as its most precious privileges, 
the principle which has been attempted to be turned to 
its deadly injury : that every Christian, with his Bible 
in his hand, is a Pope — adding only, that he is so for 
himself alone, and has no dominion over any other. 



CHAP. LXIX. 

4. EMANCIPATION FROM FORMS. 

The fourth species of emancipation towards which 
Christianity is tending, is emancipation from ceremonial 
forms. (66) 

Here, again, the anticipations of our system of faith 
by no means go so far as to presume, that Christianity 
will end in dispensing with rites and ceremonies of every 
description. No ; to whatever degree of spiritualism 
Christianity may advance, to whatever amount of light 
and knowledge, it will be still less able to dispense with 
a form of worship than with a clergy. It is very pos- 
sible to maintain, that the Father will again resume the 
functions of a priest, and that paternal authority will 






FROM FORMS. 377 

replace priestly prerogatives ; but the tendency of the 
affections must always render worship necessary, because 
a public religious service is a bond. (67) 

In what sense, then, will Christianity emancipate itself 
from religious ceremonies and forms ? 

First, by completely undeceiving itself respecting the 
errors of ceremonialism, by refusing to attach the 
smallest value in the way of sanctiiication, purification, 
or redemption, to forms in themselves — and by a full 
persuasion, that acts of worship may be regularly per- 
formed and ceremonies observed, without any vital 
Christianity, and, consequently, without making even 
the slightest progress towards God, or nourishing the 
true Christian life. (68) 

This is merely the husk and not the fruit, and yields 
no nutriment. 

Secondly, it is necessary that Christianity should 
admit the principle, that as the best form of worship 
which represents religion, is not a sure means of pro- 
gress, so, that which represents it the least does not 
constitute an invincible obstacle to the inward spiritual 
life. 

In other words, worship, the symbol, the form, is 
never the essence of religion ; and where the form is 
wanting or deficient, it does not follow that faith must 
be wanting too. 

Is it possible to imagine any act of worship, any form 
of religion, more unworthy of the Divine majesty and 
the spirituality of the Gospel, than burning a wax light, 
fixed upon an iron spike, before a picture ? 

Can the human mind conceive a service more opposed 
to the spirit of Christianity, than the sacrifice of the 
mass ; not as the Neo-catholics refine and explain it, but 
such as it is defined bv the Council of Trent — to sacri- 



378 EMANCIPATION 

fice the Lord by manducation — to eat and drink the 
Lord God himself; or, according to the terms of the 
Council, in " his flesh, blood, soul, and divinity." . . . 
. . . Nevertheless, we ought to be, and are persuaded, 
that notwithstanding the incredible absurdity of the 
one, and the melancholy mixed with the horrible which 
every analysis of the other inspires, that the feelings 
of faith, piety, repentance, gratitude, and resignation, 
which accompany them, may be profoundly Christian. 

Some may regard this as hard to believe. In my 
mind, on the contrary, it is delightful to believe : for, 
in fact, it is to believe that God looks only at the in- 
tention, and asks only what his servants are able to 
give ; it is to believe, still more, that Christianity is 
Divine, even so as to sancify and save, in spite of the 
absurd forms which have been imposed upon it in the 
middle ages. 

Is this to allege, that forms of worship are indifferent, 
and that we run no risk of doing violence to conscience, 
of suffering loss in our motives to progress, by adopting 
or holding to any forms of worship whatever, whether 
they may be more or less symbolical, more or less spi- 
ritual ? Is this to allege, that the liquefaction of the 
blood of St. Januarius, in Naples, or kissing the foot of 
an ancient statue of Jupiter converted into one of St. 
Peter in Rome, are religious forms equal to the grand 
and touching simplicity of the communion in a Protes- 
tant church ? 

By no means. The mode of worship is so far from 
being indifferent, that there is always great danger of 
the form absorbing the substance. 

And the choice of a form of worship is so little a 
question of caprice, or the accident of descent, or of 
artistic taste, that a believer has no right to adopt or 



PROM FORMS. 379 

hold to a form which is a bad representative of this 
faith. 

If his faith is enlightened, his worship must be 
proportionally so, and offer some adequate representa- 
tion of his elevation of mind. (69) 

If the form of worship continues meagre and deficient 
when his faith advances, if his worship be according to 
the fashion of the middle ages, whilst his faith is that 
of modern enlightenment and progress, his worship is 
an illegitimate concession, which, to say the least, 
always presents some taint of hypocrisy. 

Unhappily for him who lights the wax candle without 
any belief of offering an acceptable homage to God or 
to the Virgin by the act, his taper does not light up 
an act of worship, but a falsehood ! 

These principles show, at once, how Christianity is 
independent of its forms, and how the believer is not 
independent of the forms of worship he agrees to 
follow (70) ; this is true to such an extent, that the 
worship, whatever it may be, is sufficient for the pro- 
gress required of the believer, so long as he knows no 
better form. 

And these principles are in complete accordance with 
the Gospel. As it contains no form whatever of eccle- 
siastical discipline or of clerical constitution, so there is 
not the slightest trace of any definite ritual of religion. 

The Gospel is not a litany, prescribes no ritual. 

The form is so completely subordinate to the sub- 
stance, that the Church, as regards modes of worship, is 
left to itself. 

The fundamental principle is laid down by Christ 
himself: " God is a spirit, and they that worship him 
must worship him in spirit and in truth ; " but there is 



380 EMANCIPATION 

not a single word added upon the form and manner of 
the worship. 

We read, it is true, of Christian assemblies, but the 
Gospel gives no account of the manner in which they 
were held (71); of sacraments, but nothing is said of 
the way in which they were administered. 

Baptism, the sign of admission into the Christian 
church, is commended, but not described ; none of its 
formalities are even indicated, the age at which it should 
be administered is not fixed; and it is, moreover, cer- 
tain, that the words, which are considered sacramental in 
baptism, and employed in all churches, were by no means 
always used in the early ages of Christianity. (72) 

The Lord's Supper — that symbolical feast of peace 
and alliance, the outward sign of a double reconcilia- 
tion of men one to another, and of man to God, is no 
where ritualised in the Gospel. It becomes a duty of 
imitation : instead of prescribing the service, Jesus 
has left us a model for its performance ; he commu- 
nicated first, and the object should be to render the 
spiritual imitation of the first supper, as faithful as 
possible. (73) 

No specific time, no consecrated day is assigned in 
the Gospel; no festival, no annual, monthly, or secular 
commemoration is instituted ; whatever of this kind has 
been established, has been fixed, not by the Gospel and 
by Divine authority, but by the Church, and at its 
discretion. (74) 

Marriage, which the Gospel has so beneficially 
restored and sanctified, is not connected in the Gospel 
with any specific rite, benediction, or prayer; no nup- 
tial solemnity has been prescribed. (75) 

Churching of women finds no place in the same 
sacred volume, in which we read these affecting and 



FROM FORMS, 381 

beautiful words : " Suffer little children to come unto 
me, and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of 
God." (76) 

Finally, death, which Christianity, if possible, has 
sanctified still more, is not connected in the Gospel 
with any prescribed rite or observance either before or 
after, — that is, either affecting the body or the soul. 

It has therefore been the duty of, and a necessity im- 
posed upon every Church, to draw up and prescribe its 
own rituals of marriage, churching, and burial. 

Is it not therefore manifest, that God never purposed 
to bind redemption to forms, fixed, inviolable, and 
Divine, which, although suitable to some times and 
some places, would elsewhere and in later periods be- 
come obstacles instead of aids ? Is it not manifest that 
the " kingdom of God cometh not with observation," 
in order that it may be established " within us," and 
pass freely from heart to heart through all ranks and 
degrees of mankind ? 

Is it not manifest, also, that to the fact of its inde- 
pendence of forms, Christianity owes the immense ad- 
vantage of admitting a form of worship, which may be 
poor and humble ? (77) Ceremonies absolutely demand 
wealth ; such worship is necessarily gorgeous, under 
the penalty of losing its effect (dominion) ; thus the 
religion of Israel, which was to come to an end, which 
was ceremonial, could not exist without the temple, with 
its treasures, its vessels of brass and silver and gold ; 
and when the sacred vessels employed in the service were 
carried away to Babylon, the whole was removed. 
Pure Christianity borrows nothing from the riches that 
perish — and it has been rightly said, that the cross of 
wood has conquered the world ; it remains however to 
be explained, why it has been changed for a cross of 



382 EMANCIPATION 

gold ; or why, when the sterling metal was wanting, it 
has been gilded. 



CHAP. LXX. 

5. EMANCIPATION FROM THE LETTER OF REVELATION. 

The fifth emancipation which is being prepared for 
Christianity, is that from the letter of revelation. 

This liberty, which it already claims, and which it 
will find increasing means of vindicating, is merely the 
necessary consequence of the exegetical principle, that 
the Bible is not revelation, but that revelation is in the 
Bible — and of the principle of experience, that human 
language (as has been shown) is inadequate to the just 
expression of human feelings and of human thought, 
and especially of our religious aspirations ; whence it 
follows, that all languages abound in metaphors and 
hyperboles, and that the language of religion is neces- 
sarily full of them. (78) (See Book IV. Chap, xlvii.) 

It would be easy to prove by a simple comparison of 
texts in the Gospel, that if absolutely and literally 
taken, the Gospel would be destructive of Chris- 
tianity. (79) 

Our Lord himself hath said, " It is the spirit that 
quickeneth, the flesh (the material and literal sense) 
profiteth nothing ; the words which I speak unto you 
they are spirit and they are life " (80) ; the letter kills, 
and if care were not taken, it would kill even Chris- 
tianity itself. 

The worship of every iota in the sacred text is an 
idolatry in Christianity, and every species of idolatry is 
fatal to true religion. 

This idolatry is a thing of modern invention. In the 



FROM THE LETTER OF REVELATION. 383 

ages of Origen, Eusebius, and Jerome, the books of 
Holy Scripture were often divided into two classes, viz. 
the proto- canonical — those whose authenticity was un- 
disputed ; and deutero-canonical — those whose authen- 
ticity appeared in some respects doubtful, and which 
were of secondary importance. The piety of believers 
was neither scandalised nor disturbed, by seeing the 
sacred books so classed, and no astonishment was felt 
when, as the result of new inquiries, and new research, 
a book was removed from one category and placed in 
the other. Discussion, therefore, in this field, ought no 
more to alarm our faith, than it did that of the early 
Christians. Let us leave science to study and piety to 
read, both may pursue their course without anxiety ; 
every thing proclaims that, insensibly and progressively, 
Christianity will emancipate itself without scandal and 
without schism from the idolatry of the latter ; and that, 
in the Book of Life the world will look for that only 
which giveth life. 

This progress, in order to be peaceable, will, as by 
common consent, be quiet, without the laceration, with- 
out the spoiling of the Bible ; — the small number of 
pages or passages whose want of authenticity learned 
and critical science shall have established, will be suffered 
to fall slowly into desuetude, and faith dwell with more 
intensity and edification upon those thus more firmly 
established. 

Let fearful Christians who are astonished at the rash- 
ness or boldness of these anticipations, ask themselves 
whether they read all the books of the Bible with equal 
frequency ; whether the Song of Solomon be a book on 
which they meditate much ; whether they believe that 
Christianity is deeply concerned in proving Ecclesiastes 
to be written by Solomon — the Epistle to the Hebrews 



384 EMANCIPATION 

by St. Paul — the Second Epistle of Peter by the 
apostle of that name ; whether the Apocalypse, in our 
days, furnishes any material aids to Christian progress ; 
and when they shall have replied to these questions, 
and, if they please, to all the problems in sacred criti- 
cism which erudition has raised, then let them read 
again the sermon on the mount, as recorded by the 
Evangelist Matthew — the discourse of Christ after the 
supper — the eulogy upon charity pronounced by St. 
Paul, — or thousands of other passages worthy of being 
placed on a parallel with those which are indisputably 
Divine, and if they do not feel themselves fully reassured, 
they are unquestionably reduced to great straits, and 
much to be commiserated in their Christianity. 



€HAP. LXXL 

6. EMANCIPATION FROM DOGMAS. 

The sixth species of emancipation in preparation for 
Christianity, is that for which it must wait the longest, 
and whose first indications are only from afar, giving 
evidence of their coming — that is, emancipation from 
dogmas. 

This emancipation, so ungrateful and unacceptable to 
minds exclusively dogmatic, is so necessary to the 
triumph of the Christian religion that, without avowing 
or designing to favour it, the most determined and least 
enlightened dogmatists are sometimes forced to furnish 
examples in themselves. This proves, as will be sub- 
sequently seen, that this liberty, as well as other kinds 
of freedom, is conformable to the very essence of Chris- 
tianity. 

This liberty consists in admitting and professing that 



FROM DOGMAS. 385 

Christian doctrines, in whatever manner they may be 
received by the understanding, suffice, individually, for 
progress, salvation, return towards God, and continual 
and eternal progression in resemblance to the universal 
Father. 

We say Christian doctrines, and not a dogma which 
rejects Christianity and places itself without the Gospel. 
Within the Gospel, every system of doctrine is suf- 
ficient for the progress and salvation of him by whom it 
is honestly adopted, and professed with sincerity. True 
Christian liberty consists in a common Gospel for all, 
and the faith of each believer drawn from its pages (81) ; 
our conviction and firm hope are, that every believer is 
thus furnished with the means of his salvation. (82) 

This principle is, in fact, nothing more than a corol- 
lary from that which has been already established — 
viz. that Christianity is not a system of instruction, but 
an awakening — -an appeal — the means and secret of 
spiritual life. 

This principle is in complete accordance with the 
very essence of Christianity, which addresses itself not 
to any single tendency of our nature, but to all ; whence 
it follows, that if the intellectual tendency, called upon 
to form a judgment upon Christianity, does not compre- 
hend it aright, it is still possible that the other tenden- 
cies may be properly affected and influenced, and that 
the Gospel may still safely rule over the conscience, the 
sensitiveness, the affections, and over our love of God. 

This principle is in accordance with the nature of 
man, whose tendencies are completely distinct ; whence 
it follows, that Christianity may have less success with 
one, and more and better with another. 

A man, in reality, may be a very ill-informed Chris- 
tian in a theological and doctrinal sense, and yet, at the 

s 



386 EMANCIPATION 

same time, a very advanced practical Christian — in the 
science of happiness, in the devotedness of the affections, 
and in the aspirations of the heart. 

Unhappily, the reverse is also necessarily true ; a 
man may believe much, and neither understand nor 
practise what he believes ; neither love nor adore in 
proportion to his belief; and, above all, have no peace 
or joy in its exercise. 

Doctrines in Christianity are not an end but a means : 
they contribute much towards a return to God, but 
they do not constitute that return itself ; they prepare 
and lead to the resemblance between the creature and 
the Creator, but they do not make it ; they do not con- 
stitute this return because they merely affect one of 
the powers of the mind ; and they therefore only form 
a fifth part of the influence. 

It is because (it is important to dwell on this serious 
point) doctrine alone is nothing, that doctrine applied is 
every thing (83) ; seeing that doctrines applied are 
nothing more, in reality, than the simultaneous and 
complete influence of Christianity over the whole of 
our powers, which being brought into play, each in its 
turn, possess themselves of the doctrine, each for its 
own use and in its own way, and ameliorate them when 
they are presented imperfect. 

Some may say, of what use, then, are doctrines? 
Would it not be better and wiser to declare, once for 
all, that they are indifferent ; to remove them from. 
Christianity, and to deal by religion as chemists do with 
those useless precipitates which are left neglected at the 
bottom of their crucibles, when they have collected the 
essence which was the object of their analysis. 

It is no more possible to remove docrines from reve- 
lation, and to make a Christianity without doctrines, 
than to cut off the intellectual power from the number 



FROM DOGMAS. 

of our tendencies, and to tell man to become man with- 
out reason. A Christianity without doctrines would 
be a Christianity unintellectual and unintelligible, and 
consequently unsuited to intelligent beings. Chris- 
tianity must furnish an object for that subjective and 
interior power which constitutes us reasonable beings. 

Resemblance between the Creator and the creature 
comprehends, in proportion to the powers given, know- 
ledge of truth. Were doctrines omitted in Christianity, 
the means of re-establishing this resemblance would in 
this respect, therefore, be mutilated and incomplete ; 
our salvation would be not merely so much diminished, 
but rendered impossible. 

The nature of man, endowed with a power which 
has knowledge or truth for its objects, — and the nature 
of God, who possesses truth or infinite knowledge, 
unite in teaching us, therefore, that doctrine — that is, 
the revelation of truth, could not be absent from Chris- 
tianity : to resemble the God of truth, without knowing 
truth, is a contradiction. (84) 

Thus, in the Gospel, which is always consistent with 
our nature, doctrine is every where ; far from forming 
a distinct division of the sacred volume, it is mixed up 
with all the rest ; and, in studying theGospel, to pre- 
tend to leave out the doctrines, is to rend and destroy 
the whole work. The Gospel does not contain a single 
book which is not impregnated with doctrines. 

Doctrines, so far from being indifferent, are of ex- 
treme importance ; and the Christian who is desirous of 
repudiating doctrines, or resigning himself to erroneous 
dogmas, resembles an eagle, which, in order to fly better, 
should fold up one of its wings. 

It is obvious, that Christianity cannot reach its cul- 
minating point of action on our souls except by giving 

s 2 



388 EMANCIPATION 

satisfaction to all our tendencies, and by directing them 
all. But the satisfaction of reason is truth ; and reason 
satisfied, must, by a well directed energy which it then 
enjoys, aid in the satisfaction of the other powers — that 
is, the complete fruit of redemption — the return of 
the whole man towards God. This is the truth which 
sanctifies. 

It is an immense error to desire to be a Christian in 
every thing, reason excepted. It is manifest that our 
Christianity would necessarily be of a higher and holier 
character, if our reason, our conscience, our sensitive- 
ness, our affections, and our religious aspirations were 
at the same time equally Christian. 

The error, however, is not less immense and danger- 
ous, of believing, that when reason is not perfectly 
Christian, that when revelation is badly interpreted, 
and the truth badly apprehended, there is nothing of 
the Christian in us, and that the false direction of this 
power necessarily involves all the others in a way which 
leads us farther from God and leaves no trace of re- 
semblance to him in our souls. 

The reverse of this is the fact ; of all our powers, 
reason is that which may, with the least danger to our 
souls, with the least drawback to progress, and the 
smallest obstacle to return to God, err in its conclusions. 
And why ? Because, as has been already said, Chris- 
tianity is not a system of instruction ; because the 
essence, in Christianity, is not the dogma — that is, 
knowledge, faith, theory ; but the application of the 
doctrine — practice, holiness, love, life. 

This error has arisen in a great measure from the 
introduction of authority into the sphere of Christianity; 
dogmas constituted the fittest element for authority ; 
truth has in its very nature something absolute and 
despotic, which facilitates despotism. 



FROM DOGMAS. 



389 



The clergy, who love rule, have assumed the position 
of a governing body, have given a preponderance to 
the intellectual power of Christianity ; at first, they 
taught the truth, and have ended by decreeing and 
reducing it to formulas of faith — those heavy chains, 
which have kept the people under the yoke of eccle- 
siastical dominion. 

The clergy maintain the supremacy of dogmas in 
order to maintain their own : the clergy, in spite even 
of facts, which, thanks to God, continue to accumulate, 
refuse to avow the possibility of being Christian in all 
things, except in Christian knowledge. Christian com- 
munities begin to perceive this fact ; and they do better, 
for they begin to act in consequence of the perception. 

There lived in our country (France) a man who be- 
lieved in the real presence, in the sacrifice of the mass, 
in the reign and worship of the Virgin, in works of 
supererogation, in treasures of indulgences, and in the 
power of absolution ; he believed in the infallibility of 
the Pope so thoroughly, that perhaps the only trace of 
affectation observable in his life, were the demonstrations 
of submission, publicly made, to a papal decision. As-* 
suredly, according to the Protestant faith, this man was 
a very imperfect Christian, as respects his faith. He 
gave, however, examples of all the Christian virtues ; 
he lived an eminently Christian life, opened his palace 
to all the wounded, friends or enemies, condemned all 
violence and persecution on the pretext of religion ; 
he lived like an admirable Christian, in one of those 
periods when it was most difficult so to do — his name 
was Fenelon. Does any one imagine that there are 
many Protestants at the present day who refuse to 
admit that Fenelon was eminently Christian in every 
thing except his faith ? 

s 3 



390 EMANCIPATION 

In our own days there has lived a man in our country 
who believed the papacy to be a scandalous usurpation 
of human dominion over the kingdom of God ; who 
believed that the bread and wine used in the Lord's 
Supper are merely the common product of corn and 
the vine ; that the sacrifice of the mass is the most 
prodigious of errors ; that every priest who absolves, 
usurps the prerogative of God ; that the assumption of 
the Virgin is a fable, and her worship a superstition — 
this man, by the uninterrupted devotedness of half a 
century, succeeded in rescuing from misery, ignorance, 
immorality, and irreligion, a whole cojnmnne, lost in a 
wild and pathless district of the Yosges. In order to 
succeed, he had recourse to the secret of St. Paul ; he 
became all things to all men ; he was at once pastor 
and school-master, judge and arbitrator, farmer, mason, 
roadmaker, and became even a printer, in order to diffuse 
the holy truths of Christianity — his name was Oberlin. 
According to the Catholic faith, it would not have been 
easy to have met with a Christian more imperfect in 
respect of faith. Does any one imagine that many 
Catholics could be found at the present day who would 
hesitate to proclaim, that in all other respects it would 
have been difficult to have found a better Christian 
than Oberlin? 

To these illustrious examples, how many more 
humble ones might we add! Who does not discover 
on his path of life, who does not remark among his 
circle of friends and relations, and often in his private 
family sphere, minds whose faith he condemns and 
whose Christian virtues he admires ? In a word, who 
has not seen the holiness, the charity, the touching 
humility of the Gospel extending their sweet influence 
over the course of life in spite of the superstitions and 



FROM DOGMAS. 391 

errors which have taken possession of the understand- 
tag? (85) 

Thus, the conscience of Christendom rebels, when 
powerless thunders are still issued from the pontifi- 
cal throne in Rome, and moral virtues are declared, 
in a bull, to be without glory and worthless before God. 

The public conscience of the Christian world must 
protest with equal indignation, when men like Newton, 
Milton, Clarke, and Locke (to quote only one nation), 
are declared to have been bad and unbelieving Christians, 
because they did not believe (to quote only one dogma) 
in the Trinity. 

But the dictators of faith will say, that without 
undervaluing the importance of convictions, without 
desiring to extirpate the dogmatic element from Chris- 
tianity, you, in fact, annul its importance, — you vir- 
tually pronounce a divorce between faith and practice. 
How will you draw the limit between innocent error 
and injurious unbelief ? Where will you fix the bound- 
ary of false interpretation, beyond which Christianity 
ceases and exists no more ? 

The reply is easy : There is no limit to draw, no 
boundary to settle. It is God who fixes the limit and 
erects the boundary ; whilst on earth it is the privilege 
of every Christian, on his responsibility, to fix his own. 
Undoubtedly there is a point at which Christianity ends ; 
but this point, as far as dogmas are concerned, is not 
and could not be precisely determined by revelation ; 
human freedom would have been placed in bondage. 
It does not belong to the human mind to attempt to 
determine what God has not determined. The proof 
that the extreme limit is not divinely indicated is, that 
men still continue to seek for it ; it is therefore the 
duty of every man to examine carefully, whether he is 

s 4 



392 EMANCIPATION FROM DOGMAS. 

within or without, and the emancipation from dogmas, 
which we promise to Christianity, will consist precisely 
in the exercise of this individual right, already exercised 
and practised by the people, and which must be assented 
to by the clergy. 

Let every one guard himself from supposing that this 
liberty ever can be prejudicial to faith — - to truth. It 
will, on the contrary, eminently favour the influence 
of Christian doctrines over the human mind, for this 
plain reason — that the greatest number of persons are 
turned away from the faith by disputes concerning its 
truth; what disgusts the world with dogmatising is, 
that even now, to enumerate dogmas is to excite 
strife; to enforce convictions is to rouse enmities (86) ; 
and, nevertheless, there is only one kind of firm, con- 
solatory, and saving faith, which suffices as a guide and 
support in life and in death : that is the faith which is 
the result of a man's own inquiries. 

This freedom is also the only means which the Lord 
has conferred upon Christendom, to found and main- 
tain religious peace between its various priesthoods and 
their Churches. (87) During eighteen centuries this 
peace has been sought in vain, in an identity, homo- 
geneity, complete harmony of faith and teaching. Ex- 
perience, therefore, is decisive ; experience, which has 
come down to us through the tumult of so many 
dreadful religious wars, — through torrents of human 
blood, and the flames of multitudes who have suffered 
martyrdom at the stake. Religious peace is not to be 
founded by a harmony of intellects (minds), but a har- 
mony of hearts ; and this last is impossible, till we fully 
recognise the sacred duty of mutual respect for sincere 
opinions, and for the fundamental principle of the value 
of sincerity before God and man. 



PROGRESS OF PURE FAITH. 393 

CHAP. LXXII. 

PROGRESS OF PURE FAITH INSURED BY PRINTING. 

This is the proper place to notice the great provi- 
dential fact which made the first inroad upon the 
system of infallibility and authority, and which has ever 
since its invention powerfully contributed to bring back 
freedom of inquiry, and with it to restore the condition 
of progress in the Christian world, — 

This fact is the discovery of printing. 

It is coincident with a period doubly important in 
the history of Christianity. 

In order to arrest and keep within bounds those bar- 
barous nations, which Roman society, in consequence 
of its degeneracy, was no longer able to repel, Chris- 
tianity had been unhappily led to clothe itself in a form 
by far too symbolical. And as darkness thickened, in 
proportion as the new elements of barbarism which 
overran the South increased, symbolism necessarily 
assumed a still stronger character ; truth was more and 
more overlaid and concealed by ceremonies, rites, and 
emblems of the grossest description; and observances, 
penance, and abstinence, were more and more substi- 
tuted for the real duties of life. 

All these combined formed Catholicism, which was 
the Christianity of the middle ages. 

All this is true, including the predominance of the 
papacy, for this plain reason, that ignorance and bar- 
barism can only be governed by despotism. 

In the midst of this darkness, and by the very force 
of circumstances, written revelation almost wholly dis- 
appeared ; and it was necessary that some witness of 

s 5 



394 PROGRESS OF PURE FAITH, 

redemption — some revelation of Christianity should 
exist ; a sort of traditional revelation reappeared, pre- 
vailed, and took the place of the sacred books. 

The invention of printing, about 1440, took place 
just at a time when the symbolical Christianity of the 
middle ages was no longer suited to Christendom, 
awakened to a new and reflective life ; and at a time, 
in which, for the same reason, traditional revelation 
ceasing to suffice, it became necessary to obviate the 
extreme scarcity and great expense of copies of the 
Scriptures by new means of multiplying written reve- 
lation, means more rapid and easy — less costly and 
more certain. 

The justness of these remarks will be admitted by 
all who are acquainted with the history of the centuries 
before the Reformation — who are familiar with the 
state of Christendom, struggling into life through the 
councils of Pisa and Constance, of Basle, of Prague, and 
of Bourges — under the tyranny of Rome ready to 
yield, and in the darkness of symbolism ready to give 
way ; events which were merely the prologue to the 
Reformation. 

It is still further obvious to those who know in how 
very small a number, and in what condition, printing 
at its invention found the manuscripts of the sacred 
Scriptures, and especially those of the Gospel, — who 
know for what a long period, even after this wonderful 
invention, a Bible was a rare treasure, about which 
monasteries and universities disputed to such an extent 
as to have their copies chained to the pulpits, in order 
to prevent them from being carried away, — who know 
what an immense number of priests in Christendom 
were consecrated to their office, without ever having 
had a copy of the sacred \olume in their hands. 

And when the moment arrived at which Christianity 






FREEDOM OF CHRISTIANITY. 395 

was ready to emerge from the symbolism of the middle 
ages, and to assume the garb of a new spirituality, — 
when this immense movement was fermenting in the 
mind of Gerson, a Catholic, who was almost anti-papal, 
and of John Huss, already a Protestant Christian; — 
when the sacred Scriptures alone could become the 
instrumentality of leading the world on the path of 
freedom and progress — the art of printing was invented. 
.... Immediately the Bible began to be circulated, 
and in less than eighty years afterwards, the Reforma- 
tion broke out. We may safely trust to printing alone 
for the utter overthrow of the great deception which is 
called infallibility, and for deliverance from the humi- 
liating bondage which religious authority has imposed. 

Printing furnishes every man with the means of 
inquiry ; and the human mind is so constituted, that the 
means are no sooner obtained, than it avails itself of 
them, and wili not suffer itself to be robbed of such an 
instrumentality. Certainly, it has availed itself of them : 
let us not doubt that it knows how to preserve them, 
and will persevere in their use. 

CHAP. LXXIII. 

CHRISTIANITY FREED FROM TIME AND SPACE. 

In addition to these successive emancipations of the 
Christian principles, which will constitute so many suc- 
cessive triumphs, a final progress ought to result from 
the advancement of human reason itself. This develop- 
ment, in fact, will be philosophical as well as religious ; 
it will consist in liberating Christianity completely from 
the bonds of time and space. 

Since time and space are merely the frame work of 
our thoughts, of our present notions, and Christianity 

s 6 



396 FREEDOM OF CHRISTIANITY. 

is one of these notions, it is, like all other human con- 
ceptions, placed and enclosed within these limits. It 
must go beyond them. 

In other words, since time and space are only two 
forms, two conditions of our ideas, — since time and 
space have no real existence, and form no reality with- 
out us, time and space do no more exist for the human 
mind under the dominion of redemption, than for the 
human mind left to itself and not penetrated with the 
Christian element. 

The most elevated expression of Christianity ought, 
therefore, to present it completely free and pure from 
the involuntary intuitions, which serve as leading strings 
to the thoughts of man, which falsify its aspect and its 
greatness. 

The notion of space leads the mind to localise (88) 
Christian ideas ; it assigns them a habitation. 

The notion of time is not less deceitful ; it leads the 
mind to temporalise (89) Christian ideas ; it assigns 
them a measure of duration. 

But the difference between Christian ideas, turned 
from their true course by the deceitful appearances of 
time and space, and these same ideas delivered from 
those encumbrances which disguise them, is immense, 
because these appearances force the mind to materialise 
religion, redemption, immortality, and God himself. 

This difference is so great, that the most of these appa- 
rent contradictions, and of that darkness visible, which 
embarrass Christianity, and present repugnances to so 
many enlightened minds, disappear with the notions of 
time and space, of which they are merely forms and 
consequences. 

Christian spiritualism is, in fact, only full of difficul- 
ties in as far as it is incomplete. 



HEAVEN AND HELL CONSIDERED. 397 

CHAP. LXXIV. 

HEAVEN AND HELL CONSIDERED AS WITHIN US. 

By bending Christianity to the earthly necessities of 
time and space, we come to represent the lot of the 
just, or heaven, as a certain place, whose very situation 
attempts have been made to divine. It is regarded as 
a place where the just are gathered together, and where 
during a certain time, commencing at the death of each, 
or the general resurrection, they shall enjoy happiness. 

And in like manner, under the influence of these 
earthly ideas, we represent hell as the fate of the 
wicked; as another place, at a distance from heaven, 
and in all respects very different (whose locality has 
also been sought after), where the wicked are shut up, 
and where, during a certain time, which may apply 
equally to one of two periods — the end of life, or the 
end of the world — they are in torments. (90) 

These absurd admissions and forms of thought do 
not correspond with the truth, because they are impreg- 
nated with notions of time and space, taken objectively, 
although they have no objective value. 

Heaven is not a place, nor is hell another place ; 
these are modes of being ; heaven is a state of the soul, 
and hell is its opposite ; all which comes to this, that 
in our future phase of progress, as well as in our pre- 
sent, man shall be what he has made himself. 

Can it be necessary here to observe, that the conse- 
quence of these lofty thoughts is no more to lessen the 
torments of hell, than to cast a shade upon the happi- 
ness of heaven? — Yes, the heaven of the righteous is 
within him ; immortality is eminently subjective ; it is 
still more so, in some respects, than the present life, 
and so far from depriving the blessed of any glories in 



398 THE COMING OF CHRIST 

the future, or taking from the sufferings of the wicked, 
we need have no doubt, that the most desirable heaven, 
and the most terrible hell, are those whose powers and 
influences are concentrated in our own hearts. 

It is very true, that the more we pass beyond mere 
appearances, in order to occupy ourselves with realities, 
the more we free the Gospel from those difficulties on 
which faith often makes shipwreck and perishes, the more 
these definitions of the future deliver the Gospel from 
those inextricable objections and contradictions, which 
result from the common ideas of a temporary and local 
heaven and hell. 

CHAP. LXXV. 

THE COMING OF CHRIST ACCORDING TO TRUE FAITH. 

Christianity has gained an advantage of the first im- 
portance, when it has freed itself from the conceptions 
of time and space ; the essence of Christianity, then, 
developes itself without effort, and the distinction be- 
tween the form and substance is obvious of itself. 
Thus, the doctrine of the coming of Christ (91), so dif- 
ficult for our reason, and so embarrassing to our faith, 
— a doctrine so intimately connected with the question 
of the end of the world, that is to say, the limit of our 
present phase of progress, — has a great light thrown 
upon it both in the eye of reason and faith, without 
any violence done to the teaching of revelation. 

Transport the intuitions of time and space beyond 
our present phase of progress, accept this dogma in a 
sense purely local and temporal, you are forced to ad- 
mit, that at a given time and in a given place Christ 
will appear in person, and manifest himself to the eyes 
of men in the clouds of our atmosphere, surrounded 
with angels, visible like himself to the whole family of 
man, assembled in his presence. Every thing, then, in 



ACCORDING TO TRUE FAITH. 

this conception is objective, submitted to our senses, 
and shut up within the inevitable and common frame- 
work of our ideas, — time and space ; every thing is ex- 
pressed by the earthly means of our present phase of 
progress. 

What, however, is the subjective effect produced 
upon the human mind by this outward scene ? In 
order to speak the language of common life, what idea 
will be produced by these sensations, should these 
events really take place ? 

The subjective effect is, evidence substituted in re- 
ligion for conviction ; or, to speak the language of the 
senses, which in this case runs counter to the usual ex- 
pression of the Gospel — it is sight substituted for faith. 

Whence, it follows, that the subjective effect, evi- 
dence in religion, may be very well subjectively granted 
to the soul without the aid of objective phenomena ; 
every thing may take place immediately and thoroughly 
within the human soul by new resources unknown to 
our present phase of progress, by new relations which 
shall exist between the spirit of God and our spirits. 

But evidence in religion, when it concerns a race, 
and especially a race subject to the two laws of dif- 
ference and reciprocity, when it concerns an entire 
phase of progress, ought to embrace the case of every 
individual, and still more to extend to every thing which 
affects the whole of his brethren and fellow men. As 
a man, I must embrace the wisdom, justice, faithfulness, 
and mercy of the Divine ways, not only towards myself, 
but towards the whole human race with me, and in all 
my relations thereto. It is to this idea, to this legiti- 
mate requirement of reason, faith, and love, that the 
objective delineation of a last general judgment re- 
sponds — a judgment which is the simple and august 
justification of the Creator to mankind. (92) 



400 CHRISTIANITY 

What, therefore, are those magnificent and over- 
whelming descriptions of the last day, which the sacred 
books contain ? It has been already often repeated : it 
is objective language — it is the poetry which the con- 
temporaries of revelation were able to read; it is the 
only style which was at that time suitable to the mys- 
teries of religion. (93) 

The completely subjective appreciation, which we 
confidently promise to Christianity, will be, for a long 
time yet to come, accessible only to men of deep re- 
search and of enlightened minds. The time, however, 
will come, in which these lofty thoughts will be seized 
upon and appropriated by the multitude, for philoso- 
phy is destined to become popular as well as religion ; 
and in reply to the incredulous distrust with which 
such prophecies always have been received, it will be 
sufficient to observe, that a nation of Christians appeared 
quite as improbable to the early adversaries of the 
Gospel, as a nation of Christian philosophers may at 
present appear to modern scoffers. (94) 

CHAP. LXXVI. 

CHRISTIANITY IN THE FUTURE LIFE. 

The reflections contained in the last chapter, lead us, 
in conclusion, to treat of the heavenly future of Chris- 
tianity, or of Christianity in that phase of progress which 
opens for us on our departure from the present. Our 
last remarks place us in the limits which separate its 
future in this world from its eternal future. 

The first principle which serves to reveal the Chris- 
tianity of our celestial life, or of the future phase, is 
expressed in the definition of redemption itself; if re- 
demption is a means of continual approximation, of 






IN THE FUTURE LIFE. 401 

growing resemblance between the creature and the 
Creator, it follows, that Christianity is not an affair of 
this world alone, and that there is a Christianity in the 
life of heaven as well as in that in which we live. 

The way which leads towards God is continued from 
this world to the other, and through both without 
intermission. 

Besides, Christ is Emanuel ; hence, it is impossible 
that our relations with him should be limited to those 
of this life; they must survive the present, and will 
undoubtedly become more intimate in the future. (95) 

The second principle, which must serve as our torch 
in this distance, and in these depths, is that of human 
identity ; what man is, he will be ; such as he dies, he 
rises again. 

From this consideration it is reasonable to conclude, 
that, as respects Christianity mankind beyond the tomb 
will be divided into two classes, whose situations will 
be very different : those who have known, and those 
who have been unacquainted with the Gospel. 

For all those who have known Christianity in this 
world, celestial Christianity will be not only a simple 
continuance of this one, but a most enrapturing ratifi- 
cation, (96) a magnificent improvement of the Gospel. 
Heavenly reasons for believing will complete and adorn 
the humble proofs of Christian truths, whichhave sufficed 
for this world; conscience, happiness, and love, will 
gain in proportion to what faith has gained in evidence, 
and their immortal religious aspirations will become the 
means and the crown of this uninterrupted progress 
towards the infinite. An ideal more and more elevated 
will succeed to the ideal exhausted, and their Christianity 
will render them gradually more like their Creator ; a 



402 CHRISTIANITY 

progression, the more dazzling and happy, as it is with- 
out limits — because the limit is God. (97) 

Those who are ignorant of the Gospel cannot remain 
in this ignorance. Dying without this knowledge, they 
find Christianity awaiting them, so to speak, on their 
resurrection, on their very entrance into the next phase 
of human progress. 

What the Gospel calls the second or the last coming 
of Christ, the doctrine of which we have just been treat- 
ing, signifies in reality nothing more than this : there 
are human beings in this world who are ignorant of 
Christ, — all will know him in another world ; and this 
thought is in perfect harmony with the definition which 
sees in existence merely phases of progress. 

But still more ; Christianity, considered from our 
point of view, furnishes of itself irrefragable proofs of 
this great hope, of this proselytism of eternity. These 
proofs consist in the very nature of the obstacles which 
have caused so many of our fellow men to live and die 
in ignorance of Christianity. 

Whence comes it, in fact, that Christianity, destined 
for the whole human race, has been, and may still be, 
unknown to so great a number ? 

Some have remained in ignorance because their lot 
in life, their part of our phase of earthly progress, has 
been cast too far from the theatre of Christianity, to 
admit of its knowledge reaching them. 

This obstacle is presented by space, and beyond this 
existence it cannot again exist, since space is an intu- 
ition only necessary now, but useless hereafter. 

Some, again, have remained ignorant of Christianity, 
because their life on earth, confined to infancy, has 
been too short ; they have not had time in the world to 
become Christians, or they have passed through their 



IN THE FUTURE LIFE. 403 

earthly career before the time fixed for redemption; 
they have known nothing of the promise, or have only 
seen the pale dawn of the sun of righteousness. (98) 

This obstacle has resulted from time, and must cease 
with time ; since time is merely a present condition of 
our minds, a form of our present ideas. Those to whom 
leisure has been wanting here, will have enough in a 
future life ; those whose lot in the period of their 
earthly pilgrimage has been unfavourable, will enjoy 
the common rights and privileges of eternity. 

Finally, many have been debarred from a knowledge 
of Christianity by the passions, iniquities, misery, and 
error, which encumber our present phase of progress. 
All these barriers between man and Christ are removed 
at death ; being things of this world, they do not pass 
beyond their natural limits, and the night of infidelity 
can only obscure those perishable heavens which are 
above us at present. The whole family of man will 
become Christian under new heavens. 

An important distinction here presents itself: can it 
be that the Christianity of futurity shall be the same in 
its effects as regards those who, in this world, have been 
blamelessly ignorant of its truths ; and those who, being 
blinded by the love and pleasures of this world, have 
said to the sun of the Gospel not to shine upon them, 
" who have loved darkness rather than light, because 
their deeds were evil;" who have known the Gospel 
without practising it ? 

To all those whose ignorance of Christianity has been 
innocent, inevitable, involuntary, the Christianity of 
heaven will afford a full compensation, a consolation 
and indemnity worthy of the justice and goodness of 
God; and the progress, impossible to them on earth, 



404 CHRISTIANITY 

and consequently unrequired, they will make under the 
more favourable conditions of our heavenly life. (99) 

This indemnity, reserved for the future world, is in 
reality only one of the applications, one of the con- 
sequences of the law of reciprocity. How many men, 
in the bosom of Christendom, have never known true 
Christianity, or after having known it badly, have been 
deprived of that knowledge, through the fault of others! 
How obviously are irreligion, infidelity, and even wick- 
edness, merely miserable legacies accepted by blind 
heirs, who have no knowledge of the heritage they have 
received ! God alone is judge of those minds which have 
repelled, but not wittingly, piety and Christian faith, 
and their immortality will repair that which was a mis- 
fortune but not a fault. 

Undoubtedly, the great men and great geniuses of 
antiquity, who served the cause of truth and virtue as 
far as the light of their conscience and reason rendered 
such service possible — Socrates, Aristides, and others 
— were astonished, the instant after death, to give up 
their souls with joy unspeakable to developments of 
which they had no anticipation, and to read, in some 
measure, a heavenly Gospel upon the shell of their ostra- 
cism, on the lip of their cup of hemlock. Titus rejoiced 
to understand, that in eternity not a single day was lost 
for well-doing ; and Epictetus, at having discovered that 
true liberty of a wise man, which shall be guaranteed 
for ever in heaven. 

Undoubtedly, the unhappy savage, who has never dis- 
played any other virtue than barbarian firmness in en- 
during the prolonged torments of the fatal stake, will 
exchange his cruel heroism for a state of perfection, of 
which he never could have entertained the slightest 



IN THE FUTURE LIFE. 405 

idea ; here below he was hardly a man — the feelings 
of his humanity have been reserved for a better state. 

The Gentiles of Christendom form no exception ; 
they will know with joy, what they were ignorant of in 
this life — and most frequently without even deploring 
their ignorance. Witnesses of Christianity without 
being Christians ; God, who alone " knows them that 
are his," knows whether they had seen it sufficiently 
near to be bound to enter under its banner, and whe- 
ther their want of faith was a fault or a misfortune. 

And the young child whom Providence calls away 
from the love of its family, and snatches from maternal 
education, is only removed from the mother's bosom to 
receive its education nearer to God, — received by the 
same voice which commanded his disciples, saying, 
" Suffer little children to come unto me, for of such is 
the kingdom of God." 

It is thus only, that the universality promised by rea- 
son and revelation to redemption can be realised ; it has 
not been placed in a condition to become universal, if 
its regenerating power were to expire upon the boun- 
daries of this world. 

Those however who have wittingly refused to be 
Christians, and have laboured not to become so, — those 
whose ignorance or infidelity of the deepest dye has 
been only a resource of immorality — those who in 
their refusal to believe were conscious of being hypo- 
crites, will be punished by the instrumentality which 
they have scorned ; the Christianity of the future life, 
by forcing them to believe, will necessarily weigh upon 
them with all the horrors of remorse, and will be at the 
same time their sentence (condemnation), their punish- 
ment, and their instruction. 

Here, again, we find an important principle already 



406 EXPECTATION OF 

laid down: the righteous weaves his own crown; the 
wicked inflicts his own punishment; and the justice of 
God is nothing more than the maintenance of this 
eternal order. 

Holy and sublime thought ! that in eternity, as in 
time, Christianity is sufficient in itself to answer all its 
ends, and to maintain itself by its own power ! The in- 
ward virtue of redemption, which constitutes its essence, 
cannot be weakened or exhausted ; it rewards the 
righteous by leading them without intermission nearer 
to God ; it punishes the scoffers and the wicked by un- 
veiling itself to their minds, and in the clearness of its 
light, forcing them to see and measure their distance 
from God. 

CHAP. LXXVII. 

EXPECTATION OF UNIVERSAL RESTORATION. 

Is this distance fixed and final ? Is eternity of punish- 
ment (100) a necessary result of Christianity as taught 
in the Gospel? Is all return towards God determi- 
nately impossible after this life ? After the perdition 
consequent upon the abuse of God's grace in this life, 
is all resemblance between the creature and the Creator 
immediately effaced from our souls ? 

Or is it, in fact, legitimate, is it rational, is it sub- 
jective, so to speak, and, above all, is it Christian, to 
conceive the possibility of a future restoration hidden 
in invisible returns of progress, in unknown resump- 
tions of activity ? Must we receive in this sense those 
texts of revelation which appear clearly to allude to 
this distant or mysterious mercy ? 

This question is, obviously, the last one which sub- 
jective theology proposes ; it closes Christianity, because 
it closes our destiny. 



UNIVERSAL RESTORATION. 407 

The ordinary systems of theology rather avoid ex- 
amining this subject closely ; they feel a silent appre- 
hension, that conscience and religiousness furnish objec- 
tions to the dogma of eternal punishments/ which are 
difficult to remove ; and whenever called upon to meet 
the inquiry, the quotation of a few texts exhausts 
the power of their argumentation. 

Besides this, professors express their doubts whether 
a temporary hell be not a thing too easily braved. 

In our opinion, the manner in which men brave an 
eternal hell does not justify this anxiety ; it seems 
difficult to believe that the prospect of a measured 
period of condemnation should render men more per- 
verse than what has occurred with the prospect of an 
irremediable condemnation. The argument might be 
reversed ; and it might be maintained, that an eternity 
of punishment — a dogma which men naturally doubt — 
should be more favourable to evil passions than the 
expectation of limited punishments, of which they have 
a fuller conviction. 

On both sides these are defeats, and not proofs or 
solutions. Truth is truth, whether men abuse it or 
not, and the truth ought to be sought for whatever 
may happen ; as it would be necessary to procure fire 
and light, though fire and light might be made the 
instruments of an incendiary. Truth, within the limits 
of our reason and our faith, is our affair, it belongs to 
us as reasonable beings ; the consequences of truth are 
with God, and these consequences cannot be hurtful, 
for truth is nothing but the thought of God himself. 
The usual light which is attempted to be thrown upon 
the darkness of this question, is nothing better than a 
false glimmer. 

Tt is said, that an eternity, of punishment, after so 



408 EXPECTATION OF 

short a life, presents a fearful disproportion, or, that the 
effect is much too great for the cause. 

It is said that the idea of an eternity of torments is 
repugnant to the notion of infinite goodness, and that 
creation is only conceivable on the supposition of a final 
restoration. 

It is said, finally, that Divine chastisements can have 
no other end but correction, and that all correction 
must terminate in a remedy ; which implies a contra- 
diction with eternity of punishment. 

It is answered, that an offence committed against an 
infinite being, must necessarily draw down upon itself 
an infinite punishment. 

It is answered, that reparation of the evil done in this 
life being impossible in the future life, the situation 
cannot be changed ; the situation in which the wicked 
is placed must, therefore, endure for ever. 

It is answered, finally, that ulterior redemption being 
impossible, it follows that damnation is eternal. 

All these arguments, for end against, are worthless, 
and will not stand the test of subjective theology. 

The objection drawn from the disproportion in 
extent, so to speak, between time and immortality, 
transports the intuition of time beyond the limits of 
this world. 

The objection drawn from the goodness of God, ad- 
mits in the mind of God {divine thought) of differences, 
of degrees ; it follows, that God would be variously 
sensible to our sufferings, according as they were pro- 
longed. 

The objection drawn from the moral uselessness of 
punishment uninterrupted and without end, attributes 
to God pains taken for correction as immediate also, 
whereas, chastisements are merely the consequences of 



UNIVERSAL RESTORATION. 409 

our actions ; this reasoning has no value except by 
becoming subjective. 

The replies are of still less force than the objections. 

It is merely by satisfying ourselves with words that 
we can entertain an idea of finding the infinite either in 
the acts of creatures or in their sufferings — eternal or 
not. 

Finally, the last two answers, the impossibility of 
a future reparation of the faults committed in the 
present life, and the impossibility of a new redemption 
in eternity, take for granted the very matter at issue, 
and answer the question by the question itself. 

And what do we know of the conditions of our future 
existence to justify us in affirming with so much com- 
placency, that a redemption in that state is impossible ? 
(See Book VI. Chap, lxi.) 

Subjective Christianity possesses triumphant argu- 
ments, which breathe the spirit of the Gospel, and 
completely incline the balance in favour of the immense 
and delightful hope of a general restoration being pre- 
pared in the counsels of Providence, and buried, as it 
were, far beyond the feeble ken of our weak and limited 
view, in the unfathomable depths of the future. 

1. — Every species of suffering is instructive to a being 
endowed with a consciousness of self. (101) 

It is thoroughly impossible to conceive any suffering- 
undergone by a being endowed with human tendencies 
and human powers, founded upon a consciousness of 
self, in which that suffering does not result in some 
instruction, because the sense of suffering necessarily 
produces a return to self-examination. 

Now, as man dies, so he rises again. He finds 
again in his future phase of existence the faculties and 
powers of the present ; he recognises and knows him- 

T 



410 EXPECTATION OF 



ess 



self ; he has a conviction of his identity, a consciousness 
of self; therefore, if he suffers, he is instructed ; if he 
is instructed, he amends and improves ; if he amends, 
he suffers less, and if he has thus the virtual means of 
diminishing his sufferings, he can on the same condi- 
tions cause it wholly to cease. 

2. Consciousness of self, in suffering, supposes a clear 
and distinct appreciation of that suffering, and a know- 
ledge of its cause ; the consciousness of self in suffering 
indicates clearly, whether that suffering arises or does not 
arise from the fault of him who experiences it. A being 
who knows himself cannot be his own executioner without 
knowing it. But the conviction of suffering by one's 
own fault brings with it the feeling of regret. Those 
who are thus chastened feel that they might have had a 
different lot; this regret is necessarily instructive, and the 
more poignant it is the more salutary it will be. (102) 

The more, also, that this feeling of God's displeasure 
is personal and subjective, the more instruction will it 
bring. 

Those who are chastened cannot hate without know- 
ing that they might have loved, and there is necessarily 
an instructive and salutary power in this regret of love ; 
those who are chastened when they have been guilty 
of malice or blasphemed the name of God, cannot recall 
their sin to mind without knowing that the same voice 
which was employed to blaspheme, might have mur- 
mured the accents of prayer ; this recollection becomes 
a permanent lesson : and it is a contradiction to sup- 
pose that a lesson can be eternal and useless. 

3. If it is true, that as man is he will be, — if it is 
true, that identity is preserved, and there are different 
dagrees of chastisement because there are different de- 
grees of culpability, the idea results from the simple 



UNIVERSAL RESTORATION. 411 

notion of justice in general, and it is further rendered 
obvious, when it is admitted that rewards and punish- 
ments are the simple consequences of our actions ; it is 
a necessity, that effects correspond to their causes ; 
every one, therefore, who is chastened, undergoes his 
own especial chastisement ; and there are as many hells 
as there are beings suffering from the consequences 
of sin. 

Revelation on this point leaves no room for doubt ; 
the Redeemer has explained himself in the most ex- 
plicit manner ; and every city may ask whether its sen- 
tence will be that of Tyre and Sidon, or the more 
fearful condemnation of Bethsaida and Chorazin. (103) 

If identity, if consciousness of self, if the tendencies of 
our minds subsist and survive, man, a member of the pre- 
sent social family, must find himself hereafter in the same 
relative position ; his relations are resumed ; his fellow- 
creatures continue to be his fellow-creatures always. 
(See Book I. Chap, xvi., and Book V. Chap, lvi.) We 
have no adequate idea of these future relations, of which 
the present condition is but an imperfect image ; we 
have no adequate idea of the relations of the righteous, 
one towards another, — of the condemned, one towards 
another, and still less of the righteous to the wicked ; 
these relations, however, must be maintained, for without 
them man is no longer man — his identity is destroyed. 

These relations, even if reduced to the bare know- 
ledge of each other's fate, are certain : for they are in- 
dispensable to the subjective moral relation, which, in 
reality, is but one of the aspects of identity. 

Brought back to this simple expression, they are ne- 
cessary to the heavenly progress of our religious ten- 
dencies, because they justify God to his children. 

According to the revealed enunciation of the Christian 

T 2 



412 EXPECTATION OF 

doctrine, the last judgment is nothing more than God's 
final justification as regards the whole administration of 
this world. 

They are necessary to the righteous, to enahle them 
thoroughly to comprehend their own goodness, and the 
suitableness of its effects ; to the condemned, to enahle 
them fully to understand their sin and their chastise- 
ment. 

Now if the wicked is not more isolated than the 
righteous, he necessarily derives two pieces of instruc- 
tion from these relations : he has the means of com- 
paring his lot with that of the righteous, which confirms 
our views respecting the regret felt for sin ; and the 
means of comparing his measure of punishment with 
that of those of which he is a witness. 

It is obvious, that this experimental knowledge of an 
exact and perfect correspondence between transgression 
and punishment, must be accompanied with a reflex 
action upon himself; and from those perpetual compari- 
sons which the wicked make, each for himself, of all 
sin and of all suffering, there must necessarily spring 
an element of repentance, a means of change, 

4. Again, activity is continuous ; it is never sta- 
tionary, and the continuance of human activity extends 
through all the periods, all the stations, all the phases 
of our existence. 

If activity stopped in its progress, every thing would 
stop. Man would cease to be man : in reality, he 
would cease to be ; for he exists only as an active being. 
Cessation of activity would be nothingness, and nothing- 
ness is another word for impossibility. 

The happiness of the righteous consists in progress, 
that is to say, in the celestial development and direction 
of their activity, in their constant approximation to God, 



UNIVERSAL RESTORATION. 413 

in their increasing resemblance to God, the magnifi- 
cent and legitimate fulfilment of the human destiny. 

As the happiness of the righteous consists in their 
activity, so the misery of the wicked consists in theirs ; 
the righteous find their happiness in constantly growing 
in righteousness ; the wicked cannot be eternally mise- 
rable, if they do not eternally become worse and worse. 

This they may undoubtedly do : we have been led to 
admit (see Book I. Chap, xviii.) that the two alterna- 
tives of activity, that which draws us nearer to, and that 
which carries us further from God, are indefinite ; there 
is always room left both nearer the Creator and at a 
greater distance from him. Consequently, the penalties 
of sin may be eternal and may eternally increase, on the 
supposition that sin also increases eternally. This is the 
only possible means of effecting a sentence of everlasting 
reprobation. 

But from granting that the pains of an hereafter 
may be eternal, to consider it certain that they are 
so, is a tremendous foresight which rests on nothing, 
and the adherents of this dreadful doctrine take it 
for granted without looking at its ground-work. 
Creation, whose secret is love, redemption, whose aim is 
salvation, are in a much fuller accordance with the per- 
suasion, that God expects all his children. 

5, If God expects them, if Christ expects them, God, 
so to speak, rapt in the sublime intentions of creation, 
Christ manifested in the tender mercies of redemption, 
it follows, that the just expect them also. 

Once more, identity without the tendencies is a con- 
tradiction ; the power of the affections is as permanent 
and as durable as the other powers, and whatever may 
be pretended, it seems impossible to reconcile the per- 
fect happiness of the righteous, and the eternal con- 

T 3 



414 EXPECTATION OF 

demnation, that is to say, the eternal wickedness of 
the wicked. 

If there is identity, the power of the affections must 
remain ; if the power of the affections remains, it 
necessarily leads us again to its objective relations ; if 
the relations of this life are resumed with the eternal, 
irremediable, hopeless, and constantly increasing differ- 
ences, of a heaven for some, and a hell for others, how 
can heavenly happiness become perfect, at least without 
the taint of selfishness ? That it should have this taint 
is contradictory ; for how little soever happiness be 
tainted with selfishness, in that degree it loves its per- 
fection. 

It has been alleged, indeed, that these relations are 
modified for the righteous, and all that is painful in 
them absorbed in a feeling of religiousness so elevated 
and purified, that compassion for the wicked brings its 
own consolation ; or, to speak in the common language 
of religion, that the mournful pity inspired by the 
knowledge of the dreadful condition of the wicked, 
disappears and is extinguished in the adoration of the 
justice and goodness of God. 

Subjective faith recognises no such extravagant illu- 
sions. 

The powers in the human being are distinct, so that 
it by no means follows, that, because religiousness is 
satisfied, the power of the affections is so also ; and the 
chosen servants, whilst adoring, will lament over their 
brethren and suffer for them. 

It appears, therefore, allowable to adopt a double 
conclusion, deduced from these important considerations. 

On the one hand, the righteous find in the punish- 
ment of the wicked that indispensable satisfaction 
(using the word in a merely legal sense) which both 



UNIVERSAL RESTORATION. 415 

conscience and religiousness demand; conscience, be- 
cause it is repugnant to, and feels indignant at the 
assimilation of good and evil ; religiousness, because it 
cannot admit, that God, opening {submitting) two alterna- 
tives to an activity, should make no distinction between 
the one and the other. The punishment of the wicked is 
therefore necessary to the happiness of the just ; and, 
however strange to affirm ! this happiness would be 
destroyed by the suppression of hell : why ? because it 
would be the suppression of order — the total overthrow 
of the phases of progress. 

But, on the other hand, the just expect the wicked, 
they hope for their return, their restoration, their pardon ; 
their expectation is free from all impatience, because it 
is not like the expectation of this world, affected by the 
weariness of the intuition of time : the expectation 
becomes, as regards them, an inexhaustible source of 
transports, of joy, love, and gratitude ; they may thus 
love those who are under chastisement by expecting 
and waiting for their return to God, and they love God 
so much the more, as they reckon with confidence on 
the arrival of a day when God will be loved by all his 
creatures. (104) 

What an affecting and majestic arrangement of the 
universe, where there is a place for all ; and of an im- 
mortality, where there is opportunity for all ! These 
thoughts are so delightful and consolatory, that we feel 
constrained by holy rapture to regard their sublimity 
as one guarantee more for their truth. They are so 
happy and sublime, because they seem to be merely 
the feeble, but still cognisable echo, of the last blessing 
which Christ pronounced upon the human race before 
he left the earthly scene. 

Diamond when burnt is nothing more than common 

T 4 



416 EXPECTATION OF RESTORATION. 

charcoal; but wait through ages and perhaps it will 
become a diamond again. 

How many ages must we wait? God alone knows. 
God, who alone has permitted us to trace obscurely 
in the depths of the future a dispensation, in which it 
is promised that he will be all in all. 









417 



NOTES TO BOOK VI. 



(1.) " Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of 
eternal life." John, vi. 68. " Neither is there salvation in any 
any other : for there is none other name under heaven, given 
among men, whereby we must be saved." Acts, iv. 12. "One 
Lord, one faith, one baptism." Eph. iv. 5. " For there is one 
God, and one Mediator between God and man." 1 Tim. ii. 5. 
" And one Lord Jesus Christ," 1 Cor. viii. 6 ; and as the high 
priest of mankind, he "hath an unchangeable priesthood." Heb. 
vii. 24. The same consequences may be deduced from all those 
texts in which Christ is designated as the " only son of God." 
" He that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not 
believed in the name of the only begotten son of God." John, 
iii. 1 8. " God sent his only begotten son into the world, that 
we might live through him." 1 John, iv. Q. 

(2.) " He died unto sin once." Rom. vi. 10. " For Christ 
also hath once suffered for sins." 1 Peter, iii. 18. 

" For this he did once, when he offered up himself." Heb. vii. 
27 ; ix. 35. " Nor yet, that he should offer himself often ; now 
once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin, 
by the sacrifice of himself; and as it is appointed unto men once 
to die, so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many." ix. 
26, 27. " After he had offered one sacrifice." x. 12. 

(3.) " Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my word shall 
not pass away." Matt. xxiv. 35; Mark, xiii. 31 ; Luke, xxi. 33. 
" And lo ! I am with you always even unto the end of the world." 
Matt, xxviii. 20. " And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these 
three." 1 Cor. xiii. 1 3. " For if that which is done away was glori- 
ous (the old covenant), much more that which remaineth is glori- 
ous "(the new). 2 Cor. iii. 11. St. Peter borrows the words of 
Isaiah in order to express the idea : " The word of our God shall 
stand for ever." Isaiah, xl. 8. " And this is the word, which is 
preached unto you." 1 Peter, i. 25. " Jesus Christ (and in this 
passage the connection shows, that the workman indicates the 

t 5 



418 NOTES TO BOOK VI. 

work ; the teacher indicates his doctrine) is the same yesterday, 
and to day, and for ever." Heb. xiii. 8. " For the truth's sake, 
which dwelleth in us and shall be with us for ever." 2 John, 1 1. 

(4.) In the ancient revelation, ideas are left obscure, to 
which the new has given precision and clearness, by applying 
them : " But will God, indeed, (says Solomon at the dedication of 
his temple) dwell on the earth ? Behold the heaven, and heaven 
of heavens cannot contain thee, how much less this house that 
I have builded ? " 1 Kings, viii. 27 ; 2 Chron. ii. 6 ; Acts, vii. 
49. " Thus saith the Lord ; the heaven is my throne, and the 
earth is my footstool ; where is the house that ye build unto me, 
and where is the place of my rest ? " Isaiah, lxvi. 1. The expres- 
sion of these ideas lead us to entertain strong feelings of admira- 
tion and respect for Solomon and Isaiah, as the law of Moses 
pronounced the penalty of death upon all who offered sacrifices 
in any other place than the temple, that is, before the ark, the 
symbol of the Divine presence, Lev. xvii. 1 — 9 ; and the system 
of a single sanctuary had been inculcated in the most positive 
manner by the great law-giver : " But unto the place which the 
Lord your God shall choose out of all your tribes to put his name 
there, even unto his habitation, shall ye seek, and thither thou 
shalt come ; and dwell in the land which the Lord your God 
giveth you to inherit ; then there shall be a place which the Lord 
your God shall choose, to cause his name to dwell there; and 
ye shall rejoice before the Lord your God." Deut. xii. 4 — 13. 
iC The Lord which dwelleth in Zion," Ps. ix. 11 ; Joel, iii. 17; 
(the highest of the three hills in Jerusalem, called the city of 
David, 1 Kings, viii. 1 ; where he brought the ark of the cove- 
nant, 1 Chron. xv. 1 ; and which is often used to signify the 
whole city, ei the city of our solemnity," Isaiah, xxxiii. 20, and 
often the temple itself). " Blessed are they that dwell in thy 
house, or appear in Zion before God." Ps. lxxxiv. 4 — 7. " For 
the Lord hath chosen Zion, he hath desired it for his habitation." 
cxxxii. 18. During the decline of Judah, Jeremiah exclaimed : 
'- Behold the voice of the cry of the daughters of my people, 
because of them that dwell in a far country ; is not the Lord in 
Zion." Jer. viii. 19. And after the ruin of Jerusalem, when 
the temple was utterly destroyed, he reanimated the miserable 
remnant of Israel and Judah by saying : " For there shall be a day 
that the watchman upon Mount Ephraim shall cry : Arise ye, 
and let us go up to Zion, unto the Lord our God." Jer. xxxi. 6. 

All local worship is positively abolished by the Gospel. " The 
hour cometh (says Jesus to the woman of Samaria) when ye shall 
neither in this mountain (Gerizim, near Sichem or Sychar, where 






NOTES TO BOOK VI. 419 

the Samaritans had their temple), nor yet at Jerusalem," &e. John, 
iv. 21. "Howbeit the most High dwelleth not in temples made 
with hands." Acts, vii. 48. 

(5.) In that most magnificent allegory of Ezekiel, when he 
was transported in spirit into the midst of the valley full of bones, 
and when the voice of the Lord said to him : " Son of man, can 
these bones live ! " he was commanded to prophesy upon them, 
to call back the spirit of life, and he said tc Come from the four 
winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live." 
Ezek. xxxvii. 3 — 9» " Many shall come from the east and from the 
west, from the north and from the south, and shall sit down 
in the kingdom of God." Matt. viii. 11 ; Luke, xiii. 29« " And 
he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they 
shall gather together his elect from the four winds," from one 
end of heaven to the other. Matt. xxiv. 31 ; Mark, xiii. 27. 
These ideas of universality were hinted at by the sacred poets : 
" Let them know that God ruleth in Jacob, unto the ends of the 
earth." Ps. lix. 13. " Look unto me," says Isaiah, " and be ye 
saved all the ends of the earth." Isaiah, xlv. 22. And accord- 
ing to the figurative language of the book of Revelation, all parts 
of the world shall behold in their turn the angel whom St. John 
represents as (i Flying in the midst of heaven, having the ever- 
lasting Gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to 
every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people." Rev. xiv. 6. 

(6.) " God who giveth us richly all things to enjoy." 1 Tim. 
vi 17. And the preacher saith : cc In the day of prosperity be 
joyful, but in the day of adversity consider ; God also has set the 
one over against the other, to the end that man should find nothing 
after him," that is to say after prosperity. Eccles. vii. 14. The 
wisdom of the last recommendation in no respect destroys the 
force of the former view of the lawfulness of happiness, when 
Providence bestows it upon men. 

(7.) Should the severities of despotism, of whatever kind, 
should that exaggeration of civilisation which is called worldliness, 
or, finally, the crimes and cruelty of barbarism reduce the Christian 
to say with St Paul : " We are made as the filth of the world, and 
are the off'scouring of all things unto this day," 1 Cor. iv. 13 ; 
is he the less a Christian ? 

(8.) " Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after 
righteousness, for they shall be filled." Matt. v. 6. " Whoso- 
ever drinketh of the water that I shall give him, shall never 
thirst, but the water that I shall give him, shall be in him a 
well of water springing up* into everlasting life." John, iv. 14. 
„ Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat 

t 6 



420 NOTES TO BOOK VI. 

which endureth unto everlasting life ; — he that cometh to me 
shall never hunger, and he that helieveth in me shall never thirst." 
John, vi. 27 — 35. 

(9-) St. Paul puts forth all his powers to express this idea ; 
he is eager that believers " being rooted and grounded in love, 
may be able to comprehend with all saints, what is the breadth 
and length, and depth, and heigh th, — and to know the love of 
Christ, which passeth knowledge." Eph. iii. 17, 18, 19. 

(10.) " Whosoever, therefore, shall break one of these least com- 
mandments and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in 
the kingdom of heaven." Matt. v. 19- " Abstain from all ap- 
pearance of evil." Thess. v. 22. u Whosoever shall keep the 
whole law and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all," 
Jam. ii. 10; and Christ, when expressing his disapprobation of 
the Pharisees, who observed the least important, and neglected 
the greatest commandments, said to them : " These ought ye to 
have done, and not to leave the other undone." Matt, xxiii. 23. 

(11.) The second commandment, the love of our neighbours, 
is declared to be, if Like unto the first and great commandment," 
the love of God. Matt. xxii. SQ. " There is none other com- 
mandment greater than these." Mark, xii. 31. And by liken- 
ing them, the Gospel renders them inseparable : u He that 
loveth not his brother, whom he hath seen, how can he love God, 
whom he hath not seen ? " 1 John, iv. 20. 

(12.) St. Paul : " Our light affliction which is but for a mo- 
ment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of 
glory." 2 Cor. iv. 17. St. Peter: (( The God of all grace hath 
called us into his external glory by Jesus Christ, after that ye 
have suffered awhile.'* 1 Peter, v. 10. St. John : f ' This is the 
promise that he hath promised us, even eternal life." 1 John, ii. 
25. 

(13.) (See Book I. Chap. xm. note 51.) The Gospel teaches 
positively that the likeness of the creature to the Creator, that is 
to say, the constant approximation to God, is developed in 
heavenly glory : " He that is entered into his rest, he also hath 
ceased from his own works, as God did from his." Heb. iv. 10. 

(14.) What St. John promised to the Church of Philadelphia 
is promised, in fact, to Christendom : Ci Behold I have set before 
thee an open door, and no man can shut it," Rev. iii. 8 ; and the 
meaning of the image here employed is the same as that used by 
St. Paul when he said, " A great door, and effectual, is opened 
unto rne," for the conversion of men. 1 Cor. xvi. 9« 

(15.) St. Paul formally declares with remarkable conciseness 
and energy, that perfect religious equality is established by the 
Gospel between the sexes : " There is neither male nor female, 



NOTES TO BOOK VI. 421 

for ye are all one in Jesus Christ/' Gal. iii. 28. " Neverthe- 
less, neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman 
without the man in the Lord/' 1 Cor. xi. 11 ; which is as much 
as to say, that they form together the true Christian community. 
And after having taught, that women were not to exercise the 
office of teachers in the Church, and fearing that some abuse might 
be drawn from his words derogatory to the holiness and purity 
of maternal feeling, he adds : " Notwithstanding she shall be 
saved in childbearing, if she continue (if she bring up her 
children) in faith and charity, and holiness with sobriety." 

1 Tim. ii. 15. (See Book V. Chap. lv. note l6.) 

(16.) (See Book III. Chap. xxx. note 5.) These passages esta- 
blish the universality of redemption. Its indirect value, a conse- 
quence of its universality, is declared by St. Paul in these remark- 
able words, of which our chapter is merely a development : l< We 
trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, especially 
of those that believe," 1 Tim. iv. 10 ; and the indirect advantage 
conferred by believers is fully expressed by our Lord, when he 
calls them, " The salt of the earth." Matt. v. 13. 

(17-) The indirect advantages of Christianity take for granted, 
that the Church is composed of Christians in name, and Christians 
in reality ; this is established by the Gospel. The sower who 
went out to sow, sowed iC by the way side, in stony places, where 
there was not much deepness (of earth), and in the midst of thorns 
and upon good ground;" and the seed was devoured by the birds 
of heaven, burnt up by the sun, choked by the thorns, or grew 
up and bore fruit. Matt. xiii. 3 — 21 ; Mark, iv. 2 — 20; Luke, viii. 
4 — 15. According to the parable of the tares, " Let them both 
grow together until the harvest; the field is the world; the good 
seed are the children of the kingdom (believers) ; the tares are 
the children of the wicked one (the wicked) ; the harvest is the 
end of the world." Matt. xiii. 30 — 38, 39. " The kingdom of 
heaven (the church) is like unto a net that was cast into the sea 
and gathered of every kind, which, when it was full, they drew 
to shore and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but 
cast the bad away ; so shall it be at the end of the world " (the 
dispensation), xiii. 4>7 3 48. u For they are not all Israel, which 
are of Israel." Rom. ix. 6. " For all men have not faith." 

2 Thess. iii. 2. ' f In a great house, there are not only vessels 
of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth." 2 Tim, 
ii. 20. 

(18.) i( Looking diligently," it is said, " lest any man fail of 
the grace of God." Heb. xii. 15. And a man cannot deprive 
himself of it, without being exposed to injure others indirectly. 



422 NOTES TO BOOK VI. 

(19.) Hence, the duty of Christians : 1st. Not to withdraw 
from the world or its duties. (See Book I. Chap. v. note 26.) 
2dly. To cause their religion to be honoured by their conduct : 
IC Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your 
good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven." Matt. 
v. l6. " That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of 
God without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse 
nation." Phil. ii. 15. " Having your conversation honest among 
the Gentiles, that whereas they speak against you, as evil doers, 
they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify 
God in the day of visitation." 1 Pet. ii. 12. " In all things 
showing thyself," says St. Paul to Titus, ei a pattern . . . that 
he that is of the contrary part may be ashamed, having no evil 
thing to say of you." Tit. ii. 8. 3dly. To be always ready to 
give an account of their principles : i( Be ready always to give an 
answer to every man, that asketh you a reason of the hope that 
is in you, with meekness and fear." 1 Pet. iii. 15. 4thly. Not 
to affect a rigid severity or superior light : " Let not then your 
good be evil spoken of;" the advantage, that is, which you enjoy, 
of being above superstition. Rom. xiv. 16. 

The faith of the just serves as an example, even after his 
death. " By faith," says the Epistle to the Hebrews, " Abel ob- 
tained witness that he was righteous, and by it, he being dead 
yet speaketh." Heb. xi. 4. 

The Gospel fully recognises this indirect influence of Chris- 
tianity in families, and in the different relations of society from 
the highest to the lowest, even when the husband and wife are, 
one a Christian and the other a Pagan: C( What knowest thou, O 
wife, whether thou shalt save thy husband (by converting him) ; 
or how knowest thou, O man, whether thou shalt save thy wife." 
1 Cor. vii. 16. 

(20.) lC The Lord make you to increase and abound in love 
one toward another, and toward all men." 1 Thess. iii. 12. 
" Walk honestly towards them, that are without " (that is who 
are not Christians), iv. 12 ; and St. Paul, when teaching that it 
is our duty " to do good especially unto them who are of the 
household of faith," adds only this special precept. After having 
inculcated the general obligation of doing u good unto all men," 
Gal. vi. 10, he recommends Titus to put the members of the 
Church in mind " to be gentle, showing all meekness unto all 
men." Tit. iii. 2. The beautiful parable of the good Samaritan, 
Luke x. 30, is fully in accordance with these instructions. Its 
moral consists in nothing being said of the traveller as regards his 
religion, his race, his colour, his country, his family, his reputa- 






NOTES TO BOOK VI. 423 

tion, his morality, his education, his profession, his rank, his 
fortune, or the object of his journey ; nothing, not even his name 
or his age, is mentioned, He is merely a man, and every man is 
our neighbour. 

(21.) " And he said, so is the kingdom of God, as if a man 
should cast seed into the ground ; and sleep and rise night and 
day, and the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not 
how." Mark, iv. 26, 27- 

(22.) Such is the indirect power of truth, that it is found, to 
a certain extent, even under the old dispensation, notwithstanding 
its particular and exclusive character : " Keep, therefore, and do 
them (God's commandments, says Moses to the Israelites), for 
this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the 
nations, which shall hear all these statutes and say, surely this 
great nation is a wise and understanding people." Deut. iv. 6, 
Hence the rebukes of the prophets, because the people of God 
neglected this part of their responsibility : e ' Now, therefore, what 
have I here," saith the Lord, " . . . my name continually every 
day is blasphemed " by the enemies and conquerors of Judah. 
Isa. lii. 5. " And when they entered unto the heathen, whither 
they went, they profaned my holy name, when they said to them, 
These are the people of the Lord, and are gone forth out of his 
land .... and I will sanctify my great name, which ye have 
profaned in the midst of them." Ezek. xxxvi. 20 — 23. These 
bitter reproaches were renewed and repeated by St. Paul against 
the Jews of his time : c< For the name of God is blasphemed 
among the Gentiles through you." Rom. ii. 24. 

These ideas are agreeable to the whole plan of the old cove- 
nant ; the long sojourn of the chosen people in Egypt was merely 
an attempt to weld together religious knowledge and intellectual 
light, the people who were the depositaries of the knowledge of 
the true God and of the promise of the Saviour, with a nation, 
by far the most advanced in civilisation of any in these remote 
times. The object of the seventy years captivity in Babylon, and 
the dispersion in Asia, was to put an end to idolatry among the 
Jews, and as far as regards foreign nations, to spread among them 
the first notions of true religion and of the promises. These 
ideas appear in the songs of the unhappy captives as recorded in 
the 79th Psalm, attributed to Asaph : " Wherefore should the 
heathen say, where is their God ? Let him be known among the 
heathen in our sight," Ps. lxxix. 10 ; and in one of the Psalms 
which was sung in going up to Jerusalem to the great feasts : 
" When the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion . . . then 



424 NOTES TO BOOK VI. 

said they among the heathen, the Lord hath done great things 
for them." cxxvi. 1, 2. 

The Jews had reason to expect this progress in the knowledge 
of the true God among the Gentiles,, for it had been foretold on 
the eve of the ruin of Judah, particularly by Zephaniah : " For 
then I will turn to the people a pure language, that they may all 
call upon the name of the Lord, to serve him with one consent." 
Zeph. iii. 9. (See Book ill. Chap. xl. note 79-) 

(23.) (See in Book III. Chap. xxx. note 5, those texts which 
show that the intention of redemption is universal.) The fol- 
lowing passages prove, still further, that universality is promised 
to Christianity, and that the Gospel cannot fail in time to realise 
the promise : " That was the true light, which lighteth every 
man that cometh into the world." John, i.,9. " I am, (said 
Christ) the light of the world," viii. 12 ; " and there shall be 
one fold and one shepherd." x. 16. (i Jesus knowing that the 
Father had given all things, (or, more properly speaking, all man- 
kind,) into his hands," xiii. 3, said in his last prayer : " Father, the 
hour is come, glorify thy Son that thy Son also may glorify thee: as 
thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal 
life to as many as thou hast given him." xvii. 1, 2. " For he 
must reign till he hath put all enemies under his feet." 1 Cor. 
xv. 25. ' f And (God) hath put all things under his feet." 
Ephes. 1. 22. The Gospel, tc which is come unto you, as it is 
in all the world; and bringeth forth fruit, as it doih also in ycu." 
Col. i. 6. 

This universality is promised in the exhortations (preaching) of 
the forerunner: (C All flesh," says the Baptist, borrowing an ex- 
pression of Isa. xl. 5, " shall see the salvation of God." Luke, iii. 6. 

It also explains the commission given by our Saviour before 
his departure from the world : iC Go ye, therefore, and teach all 
nations," Matt, xxviii. 19; ct Go ye unto all the world, and 
preach the Gospel to every creature." Mark, xvi. 15. " And that 
repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name 
among all nations." Luke, xxiv. 47- It is to this promised and 
well assured progress, that the words of Christ to his apostles 
refer, which at first view appear strange : il Verily, verily, I 
say unto you, he that believeth on me, the works that I do shall 
he do also ; and greater works shall he do, because I go unto my 
Father," and my kingdom shall be established. John, xiv. 12. 
Obedient to these orders, and filled with these hopes, St. Paul 
writes : " It is Christ whom we preach, warning every man and 
teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every 
man perfect in Christ Jesus." Col. i. 28. 






KOTES TO BOOK VI. 425 

It is thus that what the prophets Isaiah and Habakkuk 
promised to the land of Israel shall he realised in the world : 
ie The earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the 
waters cover the sea." Isaiah, xi, 9i Hab. ii. 14. 

It is this universality, which in our opinion, is also taught in 
a very curious and much controverted passage of St. Paul, who 
never availed himself of terms more general, or so to speak, more 
elastic. Without entering into a discussion which would be 
interminable, we shall offer our translation of the passage, accom- 
panied by a paraphrase to explain, if not to justify, our reading. 
The whole sense turns upon the meaning of the word " creation " 
or u creature " employed by the apostle. This word ought to be 
rendered " mankind," and then the passage would read : " For 
the earnest expectation of mankind waiteth for the manifestation 
of the sons of God," or the knowledge of a participation in a 
better state of things. li For mankind was made subject to vanity," 
to the deceptions and miseries of this life ; i( not willingly," it 
yielded from necessity, " by reason of him," by the power of him, 
" who hath " justly " subjected the same in hope, that mankind 
itself shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption unto the 
glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that all 
mankind groaneth and travaileth together until now," for an 
amelioration of its lot; and "not only it, but ourselves also," we 
Christians, " which have the first fruits of the Spirit/' the first 
blessings of the Gospel, those enjoyed in this world, <( even we 
ourselves groan within ourselves waiting for the heavenly 
adoption, the redemption of our body," life eternal. Rom. viii. 
19—23. 

(24.) St. Paul, without precisely determining the time, seems 
to say, that the complete conversion of the world will precede 
that of the scattered remnant of Israel, and that the whole human 
race will become Christian, before the descendants of Abraham 
are so. " For," he says, ' f I would not, brethren, that ye should 
be ignorant of this mystery. . . . that blindness in part is 
happened to Israel ; until the fulness of the Gentiles be come " into 
the Church. Rom. xi. 25. It is, however, difficult to press the 
meaning of his language to this extent. It was the common 
opinion among the Jews, founded upon their prophecies (such as 
Ps. xxii. 28 ; Zech. xiv. 9 — 16), that all nations would become 
subject to the Messiah, and perhaps St. Paul here refers to the 
coming of the Lord, which was then believed to be near. (See 
Book VI. Chap. lxxv. note 9L) Moreover, the word, fulness in 
the text, may simply be translated a large number 3 and not the 
whole body. 
- (25.) The fulfilment of the words of our Lord to his disciples : 



426 NOTES TO BOOK VI. 



" Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure 
give you the kingdom." Luke, xii. 32. " The kingdom of 
heaven (the Church) is like to a grain of mustard seed, which 
indeed is the least of all seeds ; but when it is grown it is the 
greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of 
the air come and lodge in the branches thereof." Matt. xiii. 3\, 32 ; 
Mark, iv. 30; Luke, xiii. 18. 

(26.) The power, efficacy, subjective energy, diffused by re- 
demption, are those of God himself, who alone could bestow 
them : " Christ .... is able even to subdue all things unto 
himself." Phil. iii. 2 1 . Not only in the future, but in the present 
ie world." Ephes. i. 21. "That ye may know what is the 
exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, ac- 
cording to the working of his mighty power." Eph. i. 19. 
Ci Whereunto," says St. Paul, (C I also labour, striving according 
to his working, which worketh in me mightily." Col. i. 29- 
" If God be for us, who can be against us ? " Rom. viii. 31. 

The Christian, therefore, is doubly entitled to cherish that con- 
fidence manifested by believers of the old covenant : iC The 
wicked are like the troubled sea when it cannot rest, whose 
waters cast up mire and dirt." Isaiah, lvii. 20. But when ec he 
(God) giveth quietness, who then can make trouble?" Job, xxxiv. 
29. " In God have I put my trust, I will not be afraid what men 
can do unto me." Ps. lvi. 11; cxviii. 7. ei Associate yourselves, 
O ye people ! " says Isaiah in a poetical defiance to the enemies of 
Judah, " and ye shall be broken in pieces . . . take council 
together and it shall come to nought ... for God is with us." 
Isaiah, viii. 9, 10. In a similar strain, when, for the first time, 
they prevailed against the Sanhedrim, the apostles borrowed from 
the Psalmist the expressions of his confidence, in order to bless 
God : "Thou art God, who by the mouth of thy servant David 
hast said," Ps. ii. 1 , " Why did the heathen rage, and the people 
imagine vain things ? The kings of the earth stood up, and the 
rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his 
Christ." Acts, iv. 25, 26. 

In short, to oppose Christianity is, according to the language 
of Gamaliel, " to fight against God." Acts, v. 39. 

And it is because the efficacy of redemption comes from God 
himself, that the power of faith, as represented in the Gospel, 
by the strongest and most poetical figures, is so great as to trample 
over every opposition : " For verily I say unto you, if ye have 
faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, 
Remove hence to yonder place, and it shall remove ; and nothing 
shall be impossible unto you." Matt. xvii. 20; xxi. 21; 
Mark, xi. 23. " Ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou 



to 



NOTES TO BOOK VI. 427 

plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea ; and it 
should obey you." Luke, xvii. 6*. 

(27.) Christ speaks of all believers, when he says to God: 
" And the glory which thou gavest me, I have given them ; that 
they may be one, even as we are one." John, xvii. 22. 

(28.) It is an extremely remarkable fact, that without con- 
taining a single line favourable to the system of a secret doctrine 
(see Book V. Chap. liii. note 15.), or to the division of the 
Gospel into two Christianities, one for the simple, and the other 
for the wise and learned, the Epistles in various passages refer to 
degrees in the comprehension and knowledge of Christianity, and 
in the progress opened to believers : " I have fed you with milk 
and not with meat; for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, 
neither yet now are ye able, for ye are yet carnal." 1 Cor. iii. 2, 3, 
The Epistle to the Hebrews draws a distinction between him, 
•' who useth milk and is unskilful in the word of righteousness, 
for he is a babe; " and those to whom "belongeth strong meat, who 
are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses 
exercised to discern both good and evil. Therefore leaving the 
principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection ; 
not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works." 
v. 13, 14; vi. 1. These two degrees of Christian capacity, these 
manners of knowing Christ, of comprehending the Gospel, formed 
the distinction between the most advanced, enlightened, and 
intelligent Christians, whom St. Paul calls " spiritual," and to 
whom he explains the Gospel, by " comparing spiritual things 
with spiritual," 1 Cor. ii. 13; and also those that are "strong 
and who ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to 
please themselves." Rom. xv. 1. He calls the others, "natural 
men who receive not the things of the spirit of God," 1 Cor. 
ii. 14; or "carnal babes in Christ." iii. 1. Here it is impor- 
tant to mark the shade of distinction between the natural man, 
and the carnal : the word natural especially denotes want of 
understanding, and carnal indicates the want of amendment ; 
whereas the word spiritual comprehends the double notion of 
elevation of sentiment and superiority in knowledge ; and it is to 
the latter class of Christians that St. Paul entrusts the exercise 
of a sort of moral police in the Church : " Brethren, if a man be 
overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual restore such a one.*' 
Gal. vi. 1. And thus we see how the most elevated views of 
religious faith are not comprehended by the natural or carnal 
men : For neither " can he know them, because they are spiritually 
discerned; " and how " he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet 
he is himself judged of no man." 1 Cor. ii. 14, 15. 



428 NOTES TO BOOK VI. 

(29.) Christ, in the first discourse which he delivered, teaches 
positively the insufficiency of virtue, of holiness founded upon 
rules too literally and precisely interpreted : " You have heard 
that it was said by them of old time .... hut I say to you/' 
and he then proceeds to quote the precepts of the positive and 
disciplinary law, to which he opposes the law of morality and 
freedom, which is of incomparably greater extent. <e It was said 
by them of old time, thou shalt not kill ; and whosoever shall 
kill shall be in danger of the judgment: but I say unto you, 
that whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause (uses 
injurious language) shall be in danger of the judgment." Matt. v. 
21, 22. &c. 

(30.) This danger frequently occurred under the law of Moses. 
Christ said to the scribes and Pharisees, those casuists of the 
Mosaic dispensation: " Ye blind guides, which" superstitiously 
" strain " your beverage, lest you should swallow a " gnat," the 
smallest of unclean insects, and " swallow a camel ; " proverbial 
expressions of the time, which signify, you take great pains to 
avoid small faults, and at the same time commit great sins. 
Matt, xxiii. 24. It was the prevalence of this dangerous spirit 
which led to the practice of making minute distinctions respecting 
the obligation of the commandment, which prompted them to 
address the captious question to Jesus : " Master, which is the 
great commandment in the law ? " xxii. 36 ; and led them bit- 
terly to reproach Christ for suffering his disciples to profane the 
Sabbath by plucking ears of corn as they walked through the 
fields on the sabbath day. Matt. xii. 1 ; Mark, ii. 23 j Luke, vi, 
1. It must be obvious, moreover, that according to the spirit of 
Christian morality, the smaller duties ought not to be either over- 
looked or neglected, because by neglecting them the conscience 
becomes accustomed to undervalue the obligation of performing 
others ; the censures pronounced by our Lord upon those who 
were accustomed to make such minute distinctions, were dictated 
by the feeling, that these minor observances were too often re- 
garded as substitutes for attention to the weightier matters of 
the law, the more difficult precepts. Jesus said : " He that 
is faithful in that which is least, is faithful also in much : and 
he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much." Luke, 
xvi. 10. 

(31.) " Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites ! for 
ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but 
within ye are full of extortion and excess. Thou blind Pha- 
risee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that 
the outside of them may be clean also. ... Ye are like unto 



NOTES TO BOOK VI. 429 

whited sepulchres, which, indeed, appear beautiful outward, but 
are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness. Ye 
are as graves which appear not, and the men that walk over them 
are not aware of them." Matt, xxiii. 25 — 27 ; Luke,, xi. 39 — 
44. " Then came together unto him the Pharisees, and certain 
of the ^cribes, which came from Jerusalem. And when they 
saw some of his disciples eat bread with defiled, that is to say 
unwashen hands, they found fault " (for the Pharisees and all the 
Jews, except they wash their hands oft, eat not, holding the tra- 
dition of the elders. And when they come from the market, 
except they wash, they eat not. And many other things there 
be, which they have received to hold, as the washing of cups, and 
pots, and brazen vessels, and of tables). <c Hypocrites ! " said 
Jesus unto them, " in vain do ye worship me, teaching for doc- 
trines the commandments of men." Mark, vii. 1 — 8 ; Luke, xv. 
1 — 8. The Pharisee, in the parable, said in his prayer as an 
evidence of his holiness, e< I fast twice in the week." Luke, xviii. 
12. Hence, too, the importance attached to circumcision, con- 
cerning which St. Paul said : " For we are the circumcision, 
which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, 
and have no confidence in the flesh." Phil. iii. 3. 

(32.) " Woe unto you scribes and Pharisees," says Jesus, " hy- 
pocrites ! for ye pay tithe of mint, and anise, and cummin, and 
have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, 
and faith." The very scrupulous among the Jews, at the time of 
our Lord, made it a point of honour to give tithes, not only of their 
harvest and income, but even of the fragrant plants and herbs, 
which grew in their gardens, and were used as condiments in food. 
It was this custom, so little burthensome, to which our Lord 
alluded. Matt, xxiii. 27 ; Luke, xi. 42. The Pharisee, in the 
parable, also boasts that he paid tithe of all that he possessed. 
Luke, xviii. 42. 

{33.) There is no better proof of the danger arising from 
codes of moral discipline, than the distinctions which were fre- 
quently recognised respecting the obligation lof oaths. The Jews, 
and especially the Pharisees, whose ordinary language abounded 
in religious phraseology, were in the constant habit of calling 
God to witness, and of giving, or pretending to give, validity to 
their assertions by different forms of swearing. This irreligious 
practice, condemned by our Lord in his sermon on the mount, 
Matt. v. 35 — 37, and by St. James in his Epistle, Jam. v. 12, 
had encouraged the dangerous and wicked principle of making 
a distinction between solemn oaths, and those which were not 
considered as such j oaths which men violated as readily as 



430 NOTES TO BOOK VI. 

they took them. " Woe unto you ye blind guides, which say, 
whosoever shall swear by the temple it is nothing; but who- 
soever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is a debtor ! (the 
treasury of alms, offerings, and imposts, for the support of the 
temple and its worship). Ye fools and blind : for whether is 
greater the gold, or the temple that sanctifieth the gold ? And 
whosoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing ; but whosoever 
sweareth by the gift that is upon it, he is guilty. Ye fools and 
blind ; for whether is greater the gift, or the altar that sanctifieth 
the gift? Whoso, therefore, shall swear by the altar, sweareth 
by it, and by all things thereon. And whoso shall swear by the 
temple, sweareth by it, and by him that dwelleth therein ; and 
he that shall swear by heaven, sweareth by the throne of God, 
and by him that sitteth thereon." Matt, xxiii. 16 — 22. 

(34.) " For this, thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt 
not kill, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not bear false witness, 
thou shalt not covet ; and if there be any other commandment, 
it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, thou shalt love 
thy neighbour as thyself." Rom. xiii. 9- " So likewise ye, 
when ye have done all those things which are commanded you, 
say, We are unprofitable (undeserving) servants : we have done 
that which was our duty to do." Luke, xvii. 10. " Then came 
Peter to him and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against 
me and I forgive him ? till seven times ? Jesus saith unto him, 
I say not unto thee, Until seven times : but, Until seventy times 
seven ; " that is, indefinitely, without reckoning the number of 
pardons. Matt, xviii. 21 ; Luke, xvii. 4. " For in Jesus Christ 
neither circumcision availeth anything, nor un circumcision ; but 
faith, which worketh by love." Gal. v. 6. " Charity beareth 
all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all 
things." 1 Cor. xiii. 7. 

(35.) It is in reference to the minute character of the precepts 
of the Mosaic law, that St. Paul observes : " Where the spirit of 
the Lord is, there is liberty." 2 Cor. iii. 1 7. " Stand fast, 
therefore, in the liberty, wherewith Christ has made us free." 
Gal. v. 1. St. James tells us, that the law of Christ is the (i per- 
fect law of (moral) liberty," the only sense which the context of 
the passage in which it occurs, Jam. i. 25, permits us to adopt ; 
and St. Paul has laid down the fundamental principles of Chris- 
tian morality in these words . " Let every man be fully persuaded 
in his own mind .... for whatsoever is not of faith, is sin." 
Rom. xiv. 5—23. 

(36.) (See Book II. Chap. xxv. note 39—49.) The Lord's 
Prayer is a model of the subject matter and form of prayer, and 



NOTES TO BOOK VI. 431 

in no respect a litany or ritual. Christ's object was much more 
to show how men ought to pray, than to exhibit a ready made 
form for repetition. Such a practice would be to fall into those 
repetitions, to which he was altogether opposed. His object was 
to furnish a model of prayer, and not to stereotype words to be 
adopted as the language of piety in all ages. The proof of this 
remark is given by our Lord himself: " After this manner there- 
fore pray ye," says Christ to his disciples, Matt. vi. Q; and 
accordingly we do not find that even in the most solemn assem- 
blies of the apostles, as after the first persecutions by the San- 
hedrim, the Lord's Prayer was repeated word for word. Acts, 
iv. 24. This is further established by the silence of St. Mark 
and St. John, who undoubtedly would not have omitted the 
Lord's Prayer in their Gospels, had it been imposed as an indis- 
pensable form. The account given by St. Luke still further con- 
firms these views ; for although, according to this Evangelist, 
Christ seems to recommend his disciples, when they pray, to use 
the specified language, Luke xi. 2, yet it must not be forgotten, 
that the prayer itself is shorter in St. Luke than as given by 
St. Matthew, and that the former relates that one of his apostles 
said to Jesus : " Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his 
disciples.' 5 xi. 1. It is probable that our Lord's Prayer, as 
recorded in St. Matthew, had appeared to be of extreme brevity 
when compared to the long prayers of the Jewish doctors ; that 
some of the apostles desired to obtain from our Lord a model of 
prayer more fully accordant with their own ideas, whereupon 
Jesus, instead of complying with their desire, repeated the same 
prayer which he had already used, but in a still shorter form. 
He wished, no doubt, to give another proof of his objection to 
long prayers. From this, however, it by no means follows, that 
this admirable prayer, which forms a summary of the Christian 
religion, ought not to be repeated in our private, and still more 
in our public devotional exercises ; but it does follow, that it 
would be contrary both to the intention of Jesus and to the very 
essence of prayer, to confine ourselves to this form alone, or even 
to repeat it with a formal frequency. 

(37.) The only positive text which the Gospel contains in 
reference to attendance upon public worship, is in the Epistle to 
the Hebrews : " Not forsaking the assembling of yourselves to- 
gether, as the manner of some is." x. 25. And this was rather 
a reproof to those timid Christians, who were terrified at perse- 
cution, to whom the author said : " Call to remembrance the 
former days, in which, after ye were illuminated " with the light 
of faith, " ye endured a great fight of afflictions," x. 32 ; and 



432 NOTES TO BOOK VI. 

who, having fallen away, were afraid of testifying their adherence 
to the Gospel by appearing at the Christian assemblies. 

(38.) The moral liberty of Christianity is conspicuously shown 
by the way in which baptism was administered by the ministers 
of the primitive Church : " Then they that gladly received his 
word (who were convinced by the preaching of St. Peter) were 
baptized." Acts, ii. 41. "But when they believed Philip 
preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God, and the 
name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women," 
and they were Samaritans who are here spoken of. viii. 12. 
The case is the same in all the instances of baptism related in the 
Gospel ; the conditions of admission are all spiritual, individual, 
subjective ; and the new believer had always a right to use the 
language employed by the officer of Queen Candace : " What 
doth hinder me to be baptized ? " The question of the proselyte 
is as characteristic of Christian liberty as the answer of Philip : 
lc If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest." The 
Ethiopian answered and said : " I believe that Jesus Christ is 
the son of God." viii. 36, 37. And he was immediately bap- 
tized. 

(39-) Christian liberty is still more explicitly declared in 
reference to the Lord's Supper : St. Paul gives an account of the 
institution of the ordinance ; and in that remarkable passage, in 
which he speaks in such striking terms of the holiness of the 
Communion, denounces those who profane the Lord's table, and 
warning them lest they fs eat and drink judgment to themselves," 
he says : " Let a man examine himself, and so (after such ex- 
amination of his conscience) let him eat of that bread and drink 
of that cup." 1 Cor. xi. 28. 

(40.) The Gospel contains a single passage, w T hich recom- 
mends beneficence in a strain so earnest and touching, as seems to 
assign a definite rule to the duty of alms-giving, and to make it a 
matter of prescribed moral discipline : " Now concerning the 
collection for the saints, as I have given order to the churches of 
Galatia, even so do ye ; upon the first day of the week let every 
one of you lay by him in store . . . . " But Christian liberty is 
again instantly brought forward in all its purity ; for the apostle, 
far from imposing alms -giving as a tax, adds: ft As God hath 
prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come." 1 
Cor. xvi. 1, 2. 

(41.) (See note 33 of this book.) Oaths are, nevertheless, re- 
cognised in the Gospel, as means of maintaining peace, and 
putting an end to discussions and lawsuits : ei For men verily 
swear by the greater; and an oath for confirmation is to them an 
end of all strife." Heb. vi. 16. 



NOTES TO BOOK VI. 433 

(42.) (See Book V. Chap. lv. note 1 6.) All the precepts which 
relate to marriage are general ; the feelings and sentiments are 
prescribed, the actions are not so. And it is very remarkable 
that the Gospel is positive and precise, not with regard to mar- 
riage, but in reference to divorce and the right of repudiation : 
e< Whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of for- 
nication, causeth her to commit adultery : and whosoever shall 
marry her that is divorced committeth adultery." Matt. v. 31 ; 
xix. 9j Luke, xvi. 18. Whence this difference ? Marriage is a 
permanent state, divorce an isolated act. 

(43.) The only occasion on which Christ ever stated his views 
respecting the outward observances of mourning, was that on 
which he called upon one of his disciples to follow him, on the 
very day of his father's death : " And he said unto another, follow 
me. But he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. 
Jesus said unto him, Let the (spiritual) dead bury their dead : but 
go thou and preach the kingdom of God." Luke, ix. 59, 60 ; 
Matt. viii. 21, 22. It has been said, but without any foundation, 
that Christ's conduct on this occasion resulted from the prohibi- 
tion contained in the law, Lev. xxi. 12, whereby the high priest, 
and those who were bound by the vows of a Nazarite, and had the 
" consecration of God upon their heads," were not to take any part 
in the celebration of services connected with the burial of the 
dead. Christ's idea, obviously, is that all the ordinary duties of 
life ought to yield, and to yield without a day's delay, (the obse- 
quies of the dead among the Jews at this time took place on the 
very day of death; Matt. ix. 12-23; Acts, v. 6—10), to that 
of promulgating the great principles of the Gospel. The manner, 
however, in which Christ expressed himself, conveys a shade of 
disapprobation ; and the least that can be concluded from it is, 
that all parade and pomp is contrary to the spirit of the Gospel, 
and that extreme simplicity is most congenial with the nature of 
Christian mourning. 

(44.) The Mosaic religion was essentially ceremonial ; the 
Mosaic morality essentially formal ; and it is important to remark, 
that these outward ceremonies and formal precepts are intimately 
connected with, and mutually dependant upon, one another. It could 
not be otherwise; such legislation alone was suited to the Jews, as 
the apostle declares ft because of transgressions," Gal. iii. 19 ; and 
on " account of the hardness of their hearts," according to Christ 
himself, Matt. xix. 8 ; Mark, x. 5 ; and Moses reproached his 
people in the same terms. Deut. ix. 27- The whole, according 
to St. Peter, formed iC a yoke which neither they nor their fathers 
were able to bear." Acts, xv. 10. And it is so true that the cere- 

U 



434 NOTES TO BOOK VI. 

monial and moral principles were so intimately connected together, 
that they recur in the clecree of the apostles, which Peter sup- 
ported by this energetic language, and summed up in the order : 
u To abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and 
from things strangled, and from blood." xv. 1Q, 20. The Mosaic 
institutions belonged to the time when the Jews, ie were children, 
were in bondage under the elements of the word." Gal. iv. 3. 

It is clear, that in proportion as the prophets gained an ascen- 
dancy in Israel over the priests ; that is, in proportion as the 
purely religious and moral element prevailed over the ceremonial 
element, this necessary imperfection of the Mosaic economy be- 
came more and more obvious. The truth of this remark is proved 
by the fact of the great efforts which were made by men of the 
most elevated minds among the people, to give a decided prepon- 
derance to faithful obedience, to moral duties, over those ceremonial 
observances. (See Book VI. Chap. lxx. note 66.) A very curious 
and much disputed text of Ezekiel seems to involve the same 
idea : " Wherefore," says the Lord, u I gave them, also, statutes 
that were not good, and judgments whereby they should not live." 
Ezek. xx. 25. This passage may be differently translated ; it 
may be understood as alluding to the idolatrous worship that the 
Jews were left to adopt, and to the tyrannical and cruel laws of 
their conquerors ; but it is certain, that the age and spirit of 
Ezekiel agree with the view just given. 

(45.) " For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty ; only 
use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh." Gal. v. 13. " So 
speak ye and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of 
liberty." Jam. ii. 12. "As free, and not using your liberty for 
a cloak of maliciousness, but as the servants of God." 1 Pet. ii. 
16. In this condition of moral deliverance, "every man shall 
bear his own burden," Gal. vi. 5 ; and " unto the pure all things 
are pure : but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving, is 
nothing pure." Tit. i. 15. 

(46.) The first Christians in Jerusalem assiduously went to 
the temple to pray, but they " brake bread ;" that is, they cele- 
brated the Lord's Supper, in "their own houses." Acts, ii. 46. 
And at a later period, at the feasts of love, to which all were 
admitted, the poor as well as the rich, St Paul reproves the 
Corinthians severely for the disorders and abuses which crept 
into these assemblies, and regarded them as a profanation of the 
Lord's Supper : " When you come together," says he, " this is 
not to eat the Lord's Supper." 1 Cor. xi. 20. 

(47.) So great is the superiority of Christianity over Judaism, 
that, according to St. Peter, all Christians <f are built up, a spi- 









NOTES TO BOOK VI. 435 

ritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices/' 
1 Pet. ii. 5 — 9 ', hi contradistinction to the people of Israel, 
among whom offering sacrifice was a privileged, exclusive, here- 
ditary function. Will this time literally come, and the figurative 
language of the apostle become a reality ? This seems to be in- 
dicated by a passage of St. Paul, to which in this relation suf- 
ficient attention has not been paid : " And he gave some, apostles ; 
and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and 
teachers . . . for the work of the ministry: till we all come in the 
unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God." 
Ephes. iv. 11 — 13. The question here under consideration, is 
that between the special ministry of inspiration and the regular 
ministry of the Church, and this force of the idea, according to 
the explanation given, would turn upon the word till. But in 
another view, this passage fully confirms our remark ; for it is 
obvious, that when men " are come to a unity of faith and know- 
ledge of the Son of God," they might be their own pastors ; and 
would be sufficient in themselves for all the offices of religion. 

(48.) " When shall the fulness of the Gentiles be come in" to 
the Church ? Rom. xi. 25. This event must come to pass as 
we have indicated ; and as long as proselytism throughout the 
world is to continue, a special ministry in religion is necessary, 
both within and without Christendom, since there are everywhere 
Gentiles in religion, that is, men who are wholly strangers to the 
covenant of grace. 

(49.) The Lord grants the power of becoming (< sons of God, 
even to them that believe on his name." John, i. 12. 

(50-) Attaching an exaggerated importance to the transmission 
of, or the investiture with the priestly office, is merely an imitation 
of the superstition of Micah, the Ephraimite ; who, a little after 
Joshua had made a domestic sanctuary that was half idolatrous, 
took a Levite into his service and made him his priest, and said, 
" Now know I, that the Lord will do me good, seeing I have a 
Levite to my priest." Judges, xvii. 13. 

(51.) " For the priesthood being changed, there is made of 
necessity a change also of the law." Heb. vij. 12. This ingenious 
reasoning of the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews, is built 
upon the notion that every high priest was to be of the tribe of 
Levi, and of the house of Aaron. Jesus, the new high priest of 
mankind, was of the tribe of Judah; and since God had transferred 
the supreme office to a person not belonging to the priestly family, 
this change of priesthood announced an equivalent change in the 
worship, the law and the covenant — the religion. The reason- 
ing is perfectly correct. 

u 2 



436 NOTES TO BOOK VI. 

(52.) All that precedes is confirmed by the Gospel: 1st. Be- 
cause no power has been given to one man over another, in the 
Church, unless under the guarantee of inspiration. Christ him- 
self submitted to this rule : he cured the man afflicted with palsy 
in order to show that he had the right to forgive sins. Matt. ix. 
6; Mark, ii. 10 j Luke, v. 24. The men to whom the right 
was intrusted, of " binding upon earth and in heaven." Matt, 
xvi. If) ; xviii. 18 (See Book VI. Chap. i,xviii. note 5Q.) ; and 
of " forgiving or retaining sins," John, xx. 23, were inspired men 
by whom the human heart was known, as that of Ananias and 
Sapphira to St. Peter, Acts, v. 3 — Q, and the " shepherd" alone 
" knew his own sheep." John, x. 14. 2dly. Because the importance 
of the clerical office is in the work itself, in the function, and not 
in a system of prerogatives, immunities, and honours, when such 
systems are introduced into the bosom of the Christian church ; 
in the function we repeat, and in the use which the servants of 
Christ make of it ; in the fruits of edification, and the various 
spiritual advantages which are derived from it : " Was Paul cru- 
cified for you, or have ye been baptised in the name of Paul ? " 
1 Cor. i. 13. <c Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but 
ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every 
man ? " iii. 5 ; (i they are stewards of the mysteries of God," iv. 1 ; 
( ' ambassadors for Christ," 2 Cor. v. 20 ; " who are unto God a 
sweet savour of Christ in them that are saved, and in them that 
perish." ii. 15, 16. Thus, all those titles whatsoever, which 
are employed to designate the companions and successors of the 
apostles in the primitive Church, neither indicate distinctions of 
honour nor different degrees of supremacy or authority ; such are 
the titles of " prophet, teacher," 1 Cor. xii. 28 ; te deacon," 
Acts, vi. 2 ; Phil. i. 1 ; of " evangelist," Acts, xxi. 8 ; " over- 
seers," or "bishops," Acts, xx. 17 — 28 ; of "elders," 1 Pet. v. 
1 ; of '■ pastors." Ephes. iv. 11. St. Paul uses these names, and 
speaks of the persons without the slightest attention to any hier- 
archical order : u Having, then, gifts differing according to the 
grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy 
(exhort, instruct, console) according to the proportion of faith or 
ministry (the service of the poor), let us wait in our ministering ; 
or he that teacheth on teaching," what he has learned from the 
apostles ; " or he that exhorteth on exhortation (especially in the 
public assemblies, Acts, xiii. 15) : "he that giveth, (the deacon 
who distributes alms.) let him do it with simplicity ; he that 
ruleth (the elder, 1 Tim. v. 17) with diligence; he that sheweth 
mercy (who visits the sick, the afflicted, widows and orphans,) 
with cheerfulness." Rom. xii. 6 — 8. It isl obvious, from 
these texts, that the question of power and dignity, or even 






NOTES TO BOOK VT. 437 

that of the precise limits of these various offices and functions, 
never entered into the mind of the apostle. 3dly, Because, in the 
Christian church, the only head who sanctifies and judges, whose 
authority alone can cause the name of his servants to " be written 
in heaven," Heb. xii. 23, and " never to be blotted out from the 
Book of Life," Ex. xxxii. 33 ; Rev. iii. 5, is the Lord. "One 
is your master, even Christ, and all ye are brethren." Matt, 
xxiii. S. God has given him to be " head over all things to the 
Church." Eph. i. 22. " To us there is one Lord Jesus Christ," 

1 Cor. viii. 6 ; " there is one lawgiver, who is able to save and 
to destroy." James, iv. 12. 

(53.) The Church of Antioch, when sending assistance to 
that of Jerusalem, " sent it to the elders." Acts, xi. SO. When 
the Church of Jerusalem was consulted concernirg the necessity 
of observing the laws of Moses, the appeal was made unto the 
li apostles and elders," xv. 2. 4. 6. 22, and to the whole church ; 
and the reply which was returned was from the " apostles and 
elders, with the whole church," the whole body of the people. 
xv. 23 ; xvi. 4. From Miletus, St. Paul sent to Ephesus " and 
called the elders of the Church." xx. 17. 

(54.) Paul, and Barnabas, the companion of his labours, 
" ordained them elders in every Church ;" that is, pastors to pre- 
side over them and conduct the public services of the church. 
Acts, xiv. 23. St. Paul writes to Titus : " For this cause left I 
thee in Crete, that thou shouldst set in order the things that are 
wanting, and ordain elders in every city as 1 had appointed 
thee," Tit. i. 4 ; and to Timothy : " The things that thou hast 
heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to 
faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also." 2 Tim. ii. 2. 

{55.) The imposition of hands, as a mere attitude of blessing, 
often accompanied the expression of good wishes formed for the 
success or happiness of others : Our Lord put his hands upon the 
little children and blessed them. Matt. xix. 13. Hands were 
laid upon the sick when they were cured by miraculous power. 
Naaman expected Elisba to observe this practice in blessing him, 

2 Kings, v. 11. ; Jairus besought Christ to lay his hand upon 
his daughter, Matt. ix. 18 ; and this power is promised to be- 
lievers. Mark, xvi. 18. Hands were also laid upon those who 
were invested with any public functions. Moses in this manner 
blessed Joshua. Numb, xxvii. 18 ; Deut. xxxiv. 18. This 
custom was, naturally, transferred from the Jews to the Christians. 
The seven deacons were ' f set before the apostles ; and when 
they had prayed they laid their hands on them." Acts, vi. (). 
" When they (the apostles) had fasted and prayed, and laid their 



438 MOTES TO BOOK VI. 

hands on them (Barnabas and Saul), they sent them away " to 
the island of Cyprus, xiii. 3. This form of blessing was not 
reserved for the ministers of the Church especially, but was also 
employed in the case of those who were simply converts to the 
faith, as Peter and John laid their hands on (the Samaritan 
converts) and blessed them." viii. 17. It was the sign of the 
pouring out of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, that is, of those powers 
and inward gifts, to which the Church was at that time so often 
witness. The apostles, it is said, " gave the Holy Ghost" by 
laying on of hands, viii. 18 ; xix. 6; 1 Tim. iv. 14; 2 Tim. i. 6, and 
consequently this ceremony accompanied baptism ; a fact which 
explains the language of Peter in his first address : " Then 
Peter said unto them, Repent and be baptised every one of you, 
and ye shall receive the Holy Ghost." Acts, ii. 38. On baptising 
a proselyte, all these explanations were given to him ; and the Epis- 
tle to the Hebrews recapitulates a number of topics of instruction 
given to Neophytes, among others, " the doctrine of baptisms 
and of laying on of hands." Heb. vi. 2. When we consider all 
these things, we see with what propriety St. Paul cautions Timothy 
" to lay hands suddenly on no man," 1 Tim. v. 22 ; but in which, 
or in all of these, is there anything like a privileged clerical in- 
vestiture ? 

(56.) The only text in which St. Paul seems to admit a kind 
of classification, is the following: l< And God hath set some in 
the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, 
after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diver- 
sities of tongues." 1 Cor. xii. 28. Prophets are usually assigned 
a place immediately after apostles, Ephes. iv. 11 ; Rom. xii. 6 ; 
and we may therefore conclude, that the gift of prophesying only 
yielded in importance and authority to the office of an apostle 
itself. The teachers attached to a church are elsewhere called 
pastors, Ephes. iv. 1 1 ; overseers (bishops), Acts, xx. 28 ; Phil. i. 1; 
1 Tim. iii. 2 ; Tit. i. 7 ; elders. 1 Pet. v. 1, 2. Moreover, the 
questions here are all concerning the Church in an age of inspira- 
tion ; and, secondly, it is the functions or offices (works), which St. 
Paul thus arranges in order. Had not pride covered its eyes with an 
impenetrable bandage, it would have been impossible not to recog- 
nise the fact of elder and overseer, or bishop, being terms of equiva- 
lent value in the primitive Church, and especially as used by St. 
Paul: " From Miletus he sent to the elders of the church ofEphesus, 
.... and said to them .... Take heed, therefore, to all the flock 
over which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers," or bishops. 
Acts, xx. 17 — 28. The same apostle, in explaining to Titus the 
qualities needful for an elder, adds, ' ' For a bishop must be blame- 



NOTES TO BOOK VI. 439 

less." Tit. i. 5 — 7- When writing to the Philippians, he 
addresses his Epistle to the bisJiops and deacons. Phil. i. 1. Could 
there have been several bishops and deacons at Philippi, and no 
elders or priests ? St. Peter, writing to the Churches of Asia 
Minor, recommended the elders to be faithful as overseers, or 
bishops of the church. 1 Pet. v. 1, 2. Some of the other functions 
mentioned and described in the Epistle to the Corinthians,, are 
uncertain. 

It would have been strange, that Christ should have established 
a perfect equality among the apostles, and a great inequality 
amongst the ministers of the church. The destinies of the 
apostles were to be different, and to such a degree was this the 
case, that in the case of no less than eight of the twelve, their 
career is almost wholly unknown or forgotten. John, Peter, 
James, and Paul, are the only ones whose names and actions have 
been faithfully recorded ; and yet Christ required them to regard 
one another as absolute equals, he had no desire to see among 
them either a tyrannical supremacy : " You know," said he to 
them, e ' that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over 
them, but it shall not be so among you; " Matt. xx. 25 ; Mark, 
x. 42; or even a supremacy of benevolence: " The Gentiles ex- 
ercise lordship over them ; and they that exercise authority upon 
them are called benefactors, or fathers of the people." Luke, xxii. 
25. Can it be, therefore, that our Lord, after having maintained 
a perfect equality among his apostles, should have introduced into 
the Church so remarkable an inequality among the ministers of 
his religion ? 

(57-) This freedom, in the case of a priesthood, ministry, and 
preaching, receives a sanction, indirect it is true, but powerful, 
from a remarkable fact in the mission of our Lord : " John 
answered him saying, Master, we saw one casting out devils in 
thy name, and he followeth not us : and we forbad him, because 
he followeth not us. But Jesus said, Forbid him not : for 
there is no man, which shall do a miracle in my name, that can 
lightly speak evil of me. For he that is not against us is on 
our part." Mark, ix. 38 — 40 ; Luke, ix. 49. 

(58.) Moses said to the Israelites : " For this commandment 
which I command thee this day, it is not hidden from thee, 
neither is it far off. It is not in heaven, neither is it beyond the 
sea ; but the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth and in 
thy heart, that thou mayest doit." Deut. xxx. 11. 14. St. Paul, 
applying these words to the law of the Gospel, extends and gives 
precision to the idea ; he requires that the new law should not only 
be received into the heart, but confessed with the lips : " For with 

u 4 



440 NOTES TO BOOK VI. 

the heart man believeth unto righteousness ; and with the mouth 
confession is made unto salvation." Rom. x. 10. Righteousness 
and salvation are here synonymous ; and the apostle, quoting from 
the Old Testament, preserves the paralellism which is character- 
istic of his style. Under this form, it is obvious that he not 
only requires faith, but the profession of that faith : " He that 
gathereth not with me scattereth abroad," says Christ, Matt. xii. 
30; and not to accept of any bond of clerical guidance, to remain at 
a distance from the folds of every pastor, is, in the present state of 
Christianity, to be " scattering abroad," according to this rebuke 
of the Saviour. When announcing to the believers in Rome his 
ardent desire to visit them, St. Paul says to them : " That I may 
be comforted together with you by the mutual faith both of you 
and me," Rom. i. 12; and he expresses this sentiment with ad- 
mirable force at the opening of his Epistle to the Corinthians, 
when he says : " With all that in every place call upon the name 
of Jesus Christ our Lord, both their's and our's. Grace be unto 
you, and peace !" 1. Cor. i. 2, 3. 

(69-) This is what is called the "power of the keys." In the 
Eastern courts, when the sovereign remained invisible in the re- 
tirement of his palace, the right of opening and shutting, the 
right of access or admission to him, belonged only to persons of the 
very highest dignity, and a key became the insignia of their office. 
Isaiah avails himself of this emblem, in his censures pronounced 
against an officer of Hezekiah, Isa. xxii. 22; and St. John, in 
the Book of Revelation, borrows the image from the prophet ; he 
represents Jesus, "who is the faithful witness," as having "the 
keys of hell and death," Rev. i. 1 8, " and the key of David," or 
of the house of David, iii. 7> an emblem of the Christian church. 
The Lord had said to Peter : " The gates of hell shall not prevail 
against" my church; and hence he proceeds, naturally, in his dis- 
course, to subjoin : " And I will give unto thee the keys of the 
kingdom of heaven : and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth, 
shall be bound in heaven : and whatsoever thou shalt loose on 
earth shall be loosed in heaven." Matt. xvi. 19. The fastenings 
of the doors in ancient time consisted of a species of latch which 
was raised by a cord, and bonds more or less complicated, which 
were entered by means of a key, Judges, iii. 25 ; so that, to bind 
signifies to close, to loose to open, and the power of opening and 
shutting is, in fact, the same as forgiving or retaining sins, John, 
xx. 23, conferred by Christ upon all the apostles. The question 
here raised, is, whether the power of the keys conferred at the 
beginning on the immediate and inspired ministers of Christi- 
anity, has descended to those who are not inspired. 



NOTES TO BOOK VI. 411 

(60.) This phrase, which has such a melancholy celebrity, is 
borrowed from the parable of the great supper, to which the 
guests who were bidden refused under various pretexts to come. 
The favoured guests who were bidden represent the Jews, those 
especially of the higher classes, and most celebrated sects, who 
rejected the Gospel. The Lord therefore sent out his servants 
to invite the " poor and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind," 
the simple in heart, the poor in spirit, ready and willing to 
receive the new law. Still there was room in the festive hall, 
and the lord of the house, extending his bounty still further, said 
to his servant : " Go out into the highways and hedges, and com- 
pel them to come in, that my house may be filled/' Luke, xiv. 
23. It is an indisputable rule in the interpretation of parables, 
that no portion of the details can be understood in a sense con- 
tradictory or repugnant to the general meaning of the whole. 
The principal image here is a feast ; the command given to the 
servant is an invitation, an offer, an urgent request ; guests are 
never brought together by open force or violence, and yet this 
passage has been made an excuse for persecutions of every des- 
cription — exile, imprisonment, spoliation, the scaffold, and the 
stake ! . . . . Atrocity and absurdity here meet together. 

When the Samaritans refused to receive Jesus, because he was 
a Jew, and James and John said to him ; " Lord wilt thou that 
we command fire to come down from heaven and consume them? " 
He turned and rebuked them, and said, il Ye know not what man- 
ner of spirit ye are of." Luke, ix. 54, 55. 

And we may justly accuse intolerance of being as absurd as 
it is barbarous, seeing that no punishments, prison, or exile, can 
prevent freedom of thought, of faith, and of religion ; seeing that 
the mind is, by its very nature, sheltered from all such attacks. 
St. Paul first expressed this idea, and threw out a bold defiance 
to persecutions, when he wrote to his disciples : " I suffer trouble 
as an evil doer, even unto bonds ; but the word of God is not 
bound." 2. Tim. ii. Q. 

(6l.) The expression :, those "that are without," is used in 
the Gospel, for those who are not Christians. " For what have 
I to do," says St. Paul, " to judge them also that are without." 1 
Cor. v. 12 j " Walk in wisdom toward them that are without." 
Col. iv. 5 ; 1 Thess. iv. 12. "To be cast into outer darkness," 
or the thickest darkness, Matt. viii. 12 ; xxii. 13 ; xxv. 30, ex- 
presses the highest degree of suffering and perdition to which a 
man can be condemned. In the poetry of the Hebrew nation, 
the notion of a dreadful prison, and profound darkness, are com- 
bined : " Such as sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, 

u 5 



442 



NOTES TO BOOK VI. 



being bound in affliction and iron ; because tbey rebelled against 
the words of God." Ps. cvii. 10, 11; Isa. xlii. 7- This assimi- 
lation and connection sufficiently explain the formula of excom- 
munication — (i To be cast out." 

(62.) St. Paul, an inspired apostle, writes to the Corinthians : 
il Not for that we have dominion over your faith." 2 Cor. i. 24. 
" Who art thou that judgest another man's servant ? to his own 
master he standeth or falleth." Rom. xiv. 4. " He that speaketh 
evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother," with respect to his 
faithfulness to Christ and his freedom as regards the Mosaic law, 
" speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law," that is, declares 
it to be imperfect : " For if thou judge the law, thou art not a 
doer of the law but a judge. — Who art thou, that judgest 
another ? " Jam. iv. 11, 12. 

(63.) The Bereans ei received the word with all readiness of 
mind, and searched the Scriptures daily, whether these things 
were so," Acts, xvii. 11 ; and he who taught them was St. Paul ! 
The same apostle writes to the Thessalonians : " Despise not 
prophesying," (the teaching or discourses of the prophets, men 
who had received the Divine gift of teaching, (See Chap, lxvii. 
notes 52 and 56) ; and he immediately adds : " Prove all things, 
hold fast that which is good." 1 Thess. v. 20, 21. « I speak 
to you" says St. Paul to the Corinthians, on the subject of the 
Eucharist, ' f as to wise men, judge ye what I say." 1 Cor. x. 15. 
11 Brethren," he writes to them on another occasion, " be not 
children in understanding : Howbeit, in malice be ye children, 
but in understanding be men;" and he then explains to them 
the nature of the gift of tongues. 1 Cor. xiv. 20. 

St. John writes to the Churches in Asia Minor : " Beloved, 
believe not every spirit, but try the spirits, whether they are of 
God ; because many false prophets are gone out in the world." 
1 John, iv. 1. The word spirit is used by St. John in this passage, 
in the same sense as that in which it is employed by St. Paul, when 
he says to Timothy : " In the latter times some shall depart from 
the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits," 1 Tim. iv. 1, and 
signifies those teachers who pretend to be inspired. 

It is important to remark, that the Book of the Acts, when 
speaking of the example given to the Church by the Bereans, is 
not speaking of an assembly of teachers or priests, but of believers 
in general ; and in the Epistles of St. John and St. Paul, the ac- 
knowledged right and imperative duty of examining before believ- 
ing, are attributed to all the members of the Churches to whom 
their Epistles are addressed. (See Book IV. Chap, xlviii. note 52.) 
(64.) St. Paul must have had a strange idea of the supremacy 



NOTES TO BOOK VI. 443 

of St. Peter, when he wrote to the Corinthians : " For I 
suppose I was not a whit behind the very chiefest apostles/' 
2 Cor. xi. 5 ; and to the Galatians : fi When Peter was come to 
Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was to be 
blamed.". Gal. ii. 11. His silence constitutes a still more singular 
protest than his words ; during the pretended sojourn, and pre- 
tended rule of St. Peter in Rome, Paul addressed a letter to the 
Church in Rome, and at the conclusion of his Epistle, he sends 
greetings to twenty six of his colleagues, or friends, by name, 
besides those whom he does not name ; no mention whatever is 
made of Peter. And still more, during Paul's residence of two 
years in Rome, Acts, xxviii. SO, he wrote Epistles to the Churches 
at Ephesus, Colossae, and Philippi, without saying a single word 
of the first pontiff of Christendom, under whose eyes he must 
have written, if the pontifical throne were already erected and 
occupied by the son of Jonas. 

(65.) Infallibility is, in fact, nothing more than inspiration ; 
for infallibility can come from God alone. The whole ques- 
tion, therefore, between the defenders and opponents of infal- 
libility, ought to be confined to the inquiry : Where are the 
proofs of this inspiration ? the present proofs ; where the miracles 
and prophecies ? written proofs. Is inspiration promised in the 
Gospel not only to the apostles but to the Church, either in the 
person of its chief, or to a general assembly? " (Book IV. Chap. 
XLvm. and its notes.) Jesus said, " Receive ye the Holy Ghost." 
John, xx. 22. To whom did he say it ? 

(66 ) To attach an exaggerated importance to outward forms 
in religion, would be to fall back into Judaism. It is very re- 
markable, that even under the dominion of a law so thoroughly 
ceremonial as that of the Mosaic system, forms are so often 
accused of being wholly destitute of religious value. 

In a still barbarous age, at the period when the Israelites were 
passing from under the rule of judges, and entering upon their 
monarchical phase, Samuel said to Saul : " Hath the Lord as 
great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the 
voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice; and to 
hearken, than the fat of rams." 1 Sam. xv. 22. 

If we speak of obedience and confidence, David said : " Sacri- 
fice and offering, thou didst not desire; mine ears hast thou opened," 
Ps. xl. 6 ; of repentance, David said : tc For thou desirest not 
sacrifice, else would I give it; thou delightest not in burnt offerings. 
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit : a broken spirit and a 
contrite heart, O God ! thou wilt not despise." Ps. Ii. 16, 17* 

In the reign of Jeroboam the Second, Hosea, speaking in the 
u 6 



444 



NOTES TO BOOK VI. 



name of the Lord, says, " For I desired mercy and not sacrifice, 
and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.'' Hosea, 
vi. 6. Towards the time of the defection of the ten tribes, Micah 
describes the people as deliberating upon the means necessary to 
be adopted in order to turn away from them the Divine judg- 
ments: ' ' Wherewith shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself 
before the high God ? shall I come before him with burnt offer- 
ings? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten 
thousands of rivers of oil? . . . He hath shewed thee, O man, what 
is good ; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do 
justly and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God." 
Micah, vi. 6 — 8. 

On the renewal of the covenant, after the abominable and 
cruel idolatries of the reign of Ahaz, the feast of the Passover 
was celebrated under Hezekiah, not without serious violations of 
the prescribed rites, and the pious monarch addressed this beau- 
tiful prayer to the most High : " The good Lord pardon every 
one that prepareth his heart to seek God, the Lord God of his 
fathers, though he be not cleansed according to the purification of 
the sanctuary." 2 Chron. xxx. 18, 19. 

The Book of Proverbs teaches us, that " The sacrifice of the 
■wicked is an abomination to the Lord." Prov. xv. 8 ; xxi. 27- 

This subject inspired Isaiah with some of the most admirable 
passages in his book : " Hear the word of the Lord, ye rulers of 
Sodom ; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah, 
(by which names of mournful recollection the prophet designates 
Israel). " To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices 
unto me ? saith the Lord, I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, 
and the fat of fed beasts: and I delight not in the blood of 
bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats. When ye come to appear 
before me (at the great feasts) who hath required this at your 
hand to tread my courts ? Bring no more vain oblations j incense 
is an abomination unto me ; the new moons and sabbaths, the 
calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the 
solemn meeting. Your new moons and your appointed feasts, my 

soul hateth Wash you, make you clean ; put away the 

evil of your doings from before mine eyes." Isa. i. 10 - 16. u Is 
not this the feast that I have chosen ? to loose the bands of 
wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed 
go free (the poor, and debtors). Is it not to deal thy bread 
to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to 
thy house ? When thou seest the naked, that thou cover him ; 
and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh ?" Isa. lviii. 6. 
" He that killeth an ox, is as if he slew a man ; he that sacrificeth 



NOTES TO BOOK VI. 445 

a lamb, as if he cut off a dog's neck (an unclean animal") ; he 
that offereth an oblation, as if he offered swine's blood " (an 
unclean animal also, Matt. viii. 6) ; he that burnetii incense, as 
if he blessed an idol : Yea, they have chosen their own ways, and 
their soul delighteth in their abominations." Isa. IxvL 3. And 
before the destruction of Judah, Joel said to the Jews : u There- 
fore also now, saith the Lord, turn ye even to me with all your 
hearts, with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning ; 
rend your hearts, and not your garments, and turn unto the Lord 
your God." Joel, ii. 12, 13. For this was the usual sign of great 
sorrows, whether sincere like those of Joshua, Josh. vii. 6 ; or 
pretended,. like that of Caiphas. Matt. xxvi. 65. Under the reign 
of the last kings, the prophet Jeremiah addressed this striking 
language to the people at the very entrance into the temple 
where their worship was to be offered up : " Thus, saith the 
Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel; Put your burnt offerings unto 
your sacrifices and eat flesh. For I spake not unto your fathers, 
nor commanded them, in the day that I brought them out of 
the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices : But 
this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey my voice and I will 
be your God !" Jer. vii. 21 — 23. 

And during the captivity, before God " had saved Zion, or 
rebuilt the cities of Judah," we read, that the exiled Jews, in a 
Psalm attributed to David, but belonging to the period of the cap- 
tivity, consoled themselves for the interruption of the ceremonial 
worship by saying: " I will praise the name of God with a song, and 
will magnify him with thanksgiving. This also will please the 
Lord, better than an ox or bullock that hath horns and hoofs/' 
Ps. lxix. 30, 31. 

(67.) " The cup of blessing, which we bless, is it not the 
communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, 
is it not the cormunion of the body of Christ ? For we being 
many are one bread and one body ; for we are all partakers of 
that one bread." 1 Cor. x. 16, 11. 

(68.) "For bodily exercise profiteth little, (that is all mere 
outward formalities,) but godliness is profitable unto all things." 
1 Tim. iv. 8. 

(69.) St. Paul, comparing the new worship of the Christians 
with the ancient w r orship of the Jews, impresses upon believers 
the necessity of being more spiritual in their service, in 
proportion to the clearness and strength of their faith : " For 
we are the true circumcision which worship God in the 
spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, a d have no confidence in 
the flesh," that is, in the mere externals of religion. Phil. iii. 3. 



446 NOTES TO BOOK VI. 

(70.) Believers, however spiritual may be their belief, have 
no privileges to offer God sny service whatever, because it is 
necessary, that " we receiving a kingdom, which cannot be 
moved (the kingdom of heaven, for according to an expression 
of St. Paul, ' They shall reign in life,' Rom. v. 17), should 
have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence 
and godly fear," Heb. xii. 28 ; or, in other words, offer him a 
worship acceptable to him. 

(71.) Ci And it came to pass, that a whole year, they (Paul and 
Barnabas) assembled themselves with the church" in Antioch. 
Acts, xi. 26. "And upon the first day of the week, when the 
disciples came together to break bread, (to celebrate the Lord's 
Supper,) Paul preached unto them and continued his speech 
until midnight." xx. J. " When ye come together in the 
Church,'' says the same apostle, " I hear that there be divisions 
among you; (1 Cor. xi. 18; xiv. 23) Gaius, mine host, and 
of the whole church in Corinth, Rom. xvi. 23 ; and at Laodicea 
the church assembled in the house of Nymphas." Col. iv. 5. 

It is unnecessary to multiply quotations. Tt is certain that the 
first Christians celebrated worship ; not a word is said, however, 
of the form which was observed, and all those passages in which 
this question is touched, are merely exhortations, or reproofs, 
in reference to morality, and not prescriptions of any forms or 
rites. 

(72.) Baptism is only mentioned under three aspects ; First, 
The command by which it is instituted, and its necessity as a 
profession of faith, the mode by which an open avowal of belief 
is made : " Go and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name 
of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost," Matt, 
xxviii. 19 ; and the very form of the phrase shows, that the force 
of the injunction is laid much more upon the duties of teach- 
ing, than on that of baptizing : " He that believeth and is 
baptized shall be saved." Mark, xvi. 16. " Repent and be 
baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ," said St. 
Peter to the first converts, Acts, ii. 38 ; besides a multitude of 
other cases, including the declaration of St. Paul, xxii. 16. 
Secondly, as a type or emblem of regeneration, that is, of the new 
moral life of the Christian and of his resurrection, of the heavenly 
life to which he aspires. These images, inapplicable and almost 
unintelligible in connexion with the general form of baptism at 
present, were cleav and striking in the primitive Church, in which 
baptism was always attended by immersion ; the body disappeared 
for an instant under the water as it is to disappear in the tomb, 
and was supposed to come up to new life, from the bosom of the 



NOTES TO BOOK VT. 447 

water : " But according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing 
of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost." Tit. iii. 5 ; 
" Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death ; 
that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of 
the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life." 
Rom. iv. 4. Thirdly, and finally, in a moral point of view ; St. 
Peter draws a distinction between the baptism, which is that 
doth now save us ; the putting away of the filth of the flesh, and 
the answer of a good conscience towards God." 1 Pet. iii. 21. 

(73.) (See Book VI. Chap, lxviii. note 46.) The institu- 
tion of the Lord's Supper is recorded in all the synoptical Gospels, 
Matt. xxvi. 26— 28 ; Luke, xxii. 19, 20; Mark, xiv. 22 — 24; 
and so true is it that an humble, simple, and faithful imitation of 
the first supper celebrated by Christ himself with his apostles, 
is the best, or more properly speaking, the only ritual of the 
supper, that St. John, being present at this supper, and leaning 
on the bosom of Jesus, does not say a single word concerning the 
institution, which was already observed in all the Churches, at 
the time in which he wrote. Tha Epistle to the Corinthians, 
anterior in point of time to the Gospels, authorises the same 
conclusion ; St. Paul, under the guarantee of positive inspiration, 
writes, f< For I have received of the Lord, that which also I 
delivered unto you," 1 Cor. xi. 23 ; and gives an account of the 
institution in a few lines of incomparable simplicity. He was 
of opinion that he had said enough to lead the Corinthians 
to communicate in the spirit, and according to the example of our 
Lord. But of rites, properly speaking, there is not a single 
trace in his words ; and it required the strange innovation of the 
Romish church, in refusing the cup to the laity, to force men, 
even indirectly, to make a ritualist of the apostle, and to interpret 
in the sense of a form the words of the apostle, " Let every 
one eat of this bread and drink of this cup." xi. 28. 

(74.) The Mosaic worship abounded in feasts, observances of 
times and seasons, holy days. The sabbath, whose primitive 
sanctification, Gen. ii. 3, was as old as mankind, was adapted by 
the legislator to the spirit of his institutions, and to the spiritual 
and civil wants of his people, Exod. xx. 8 — 11 ; xxiii. 12 ; 
every seventh year, called a sabbatical year ; every fiftieth year, 
a year of jubilee, the close of a period of seven sabbatical years; 
the new moons, and especially that of the month Tisri (October), 
the commencement of the civil year ; the great and solemn feasts, 
the Passover, of unleavened bread, in commemoration of the going 
out of Egypt ; the Pentecost, a thanksgiving for the harvest, the 
great day of expiation ; the feast of Tabernacles, in memory of 



448 NOTES TO BOOK VI. 



the sojourn in the wilderness, and a thanksgiving for the vintage 
- — all these formed an ecclesiastical year, largely occupied with 
various feasts and festivals. 

In the Gospel, there is no trace of an ecclesiastical year, holy 
weeks, privileged seasons, feasts or jubilees. The Epistles, on 
the contrary, contain accounts of the great, and, for a time, 
serious disputes which were carried on in the early Church on 
this subject between the Judaizing Christians, who desired to follow 
both Christ and Moses, and the more enlightened believers who 
drew a distinction between the two laws. On the subject of 
fast and feast days among the Jews, St. Paul writes : " One man 
esteemeth one day above another ; another esteemeth every day 
alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. 
He that regardeth the day regardeth it unto the Lord." Rom. 
xiv. 5, 6. " How turn ye again/' says St. Paul to the Galatians, 
<( to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again 
to be in bondage ? Ye observe days, and months, and times, and 
years, (consecrated by the law of Moses) ; I am afraid of you, 
lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain." Gal. iv. 9 — 1.1. 
" Let no man therefore judge you in n eat or in drink, or in 
respect of holy days, or of the new moon or of sabbath days." 
Col. ii. 16. It is obvious that St. Paul considered all laws of 
this kind, numerous and troublesome as they were in the ancient 
dispensation, as completely abrogated under the new r ; this was, in 
fact, the virtual accomplishment of the words of our Lord : " The 
sabbath was made for man and not man for the sabbath," Matt. 
xii. 8 ; Mark, ii. 28 ; Luke, vi. 5 ; which is to say, man was not 
created to repose by constraint, and sorrowfully, every seventh day, 
but the sabbath was instituted to give to man the right and op- 
portunities of healthful rest, and if such be really the object of 
the sabbath, the Messiah is able to dispense with and to abrogate 
this use. This abrogation was indispensable to the progress and 
spirit of Christianity. The Mosaic sabbath was a temporary and 
local institution ; indolence, the vice of warm climates, w T ould 
have been the ruin of the nation, who were made the depositaries 
of religious truth ; Moses therefore apportioned to them their 
period of rest, and assigned them one day in seven, lest they 
should take them all. This rest, however, is no where specified 
in detail ; the law gives no enumeration of the occupations either 
permitted or forbidden, so true is it that idleness is contrary 
to human nature, and that cases of necessity could neither be 
foreseen nor reckoned. The restraint from occupations, therefore, 
on the sabbath, under the law, was both uncertain in its limits and 
oppressive in its rigour. It is to this sabbath, that both our 



ige 

id, 






NOTES TO BOOK VI. 449 

Lord, and St. Paul in his Epistles refer, and not to the primitive 
sabbath and its primitive consecration, considered as the Divine 
appropriation of the periods in human v life, and the institution of 
one day in seven for a day of worship : of worship, we observe, 
for it has been too much forgotten, that in the sabbath, spoken 
of in Genesis, there is not a word respecting worship; it merely 
refers to God's resting from his labours, and not man. The insti- 
tution of a week terminated by a holy day, must be divine ; the 
creature had no more right to. dedicate to God, to worship, one 
day in seven, than one day in six or in eight ; and what still 
further proves that it is divine, is, that this appointment of time 
is purely arbitrary, it depends upon no astronomical phenomena, 
it neither squares with the revolution of the moon in her orbit, 
nor with that of the earth in hers, neither with the natural 
month nor year. The principle being adopted in the Gospel in 
consequence of the general law of the primitive sabbath, what did 
the apostles do ? They adhered to one day in seven for their re- 
ligious assemblies; but in selecting that day, they fixed, as was most 
natural, on that determined by the resurrection of our Lord. 
Was there any assembly or decree to pronounce a rupture between 
Judaism and Christianity? by no means. The Gospel does not 
contain a word on the subject. All that is there found with 
respect to the institution, except an incidental notice, is as follows : 
" And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came 
together to break bread," Acts, xx. 7 ; and this day very soon 
came to be called the ct Lord's Day." Rev. i. 10. It appears, 
positively, that this custom arose from the very nature of things, 
gained an ascendancy from example, and from the powerful in- 
fluence which the miracle of the resurrection exercised upon ail 
minds : it is a custom much more than a positive institution, 
but a custom so deeply founded in the very nature of redemption, 
that it most readily became universal. 

(75.) (See Book III. Chap xxxvi. note 62 to 66.) It is 
remarkable that the Gospel does not contain a single word indi- 
cative of the presence or intervention of a minister of religion in 
the celebration of marriage. 

(76.) This silence is so much the more remarkable as the 
ceremony of churching formed a part of the Mosaic institutions. 
If the young mother in Israel bare a son, she was obliged by the 
law to withdraw for forty days, and for the first seven days to 
remain in very strict seclusion ; both periods were doubled in 
the case of a daughter ; at the end of these respective terms, it 
became her duty to offer through the priests " a lamb of the first 
year for a burnt offering, and a young pigeon or a turtle dove/' 



450 NOTES TO BOOK VI. 

and two turtle doves or young pigeons, instead of a lamb, if she 
was poor. Lev. xii. 1 — 8. These rites, the shades of which find 
their explanation in the spirit of the age, and the wise precau- 
tion of which resulted from the climate of Asia, constituted the 
atonement for maternity in Israel, and are amongst the number 
of those which have been most scrupulously observed. The 
example of Mary shows that they were still in full force at the 
time of the Gospel. Luke, ii. 22. 

(77.) " Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed 
with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain con- 
versation, received by tradition from your fathers." 1 Pet. i. 18. 

(78.) Figurative language prevails to such an extent in the 
Holy Scriptures, that almost every page contains examples. 
(See Book IV. Chap. xlix. note 64.) It is especially important 
to remark the intensity, if we may so speak, of this metaphorical 
language, which differs much more widely from the cold precision 
of our modern phraseology, than is obvious even to those who 
bestow a minute and careful attention upon the subject. Thus, the 
striking phenomena, and elemental convulsions of nature, are 
used to represent great political, moral, and religious revolutions. 
St. Peter announces the foundation of the Christian church to 
the people of Jerusalem in these terms : " But this is that which 
was spoken by the prophet Joel ; And it shall come to pass in the 
last days, saith God, I will pour out of my spirit upon all 
flesh . . . and I will show wonders in heaven above, and signs 
in the earth beneath ; blood and fire and vapour of smoke : the 
sin shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before 
that great and notable day of the Lord come." Acts, ii. 16 — 20 ; 
Joel, ii. 28. This merely signified, that the spiritual reign of 
Jesus had commenced. The Epistle to the Hebrews quotes and 
comments after this fashion upon a prophecy of Haggai : The 
same voice which " shook the earth," upon Sinai, " hath promised, 
saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven. 
And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those 
things that are shaken (the Mosaic system) as of things that are 
made, that those things which cannot be shaken (the Christian 
law) may remain." Heb. xii. 26, 27. Even in the most familiar 
conversations, the boldest images are employed, without any 
transition to prepare the reader for their use : <i Jesus answered and 
said unto them (his adversaries), Destroy this temple, and in three 
days I will build it up." John, ii. 19. He here speaks of him- 
self, of his body. And speaking of the Baptist, Christ said to his 
disciples : " What went ye out into the wilderness to see ? A reed 
shaken with the wind ? " and these words are a eulogy upon the 



NOTES TO BOOK VI. 451 

firmness of John the Baptist. Matt. xi. 7 ; Luke, vii. 24. As 
one image often brings another, metaphors are pushed to a great 
extreme, of which there can be no better example than the follow- 
ing : The life of the body is the emblem of the life of the soul : 
by an extension of the idea the nutriment of the body represents 
that of the soul, and this figure is presented in an immense variety 
of forms : " Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after 
righteousness/' Matt. v. 6; "the water that I shall give him, 
(is such, as) shall be in him a well of water springing up into 
everlasting life." John, iv. 14. The meat which Jesus had to 
eat, which his disciples knew not of, he explained to them by 
saying, " My meat is to do the will of him that sent me," iv. 32 ; 
" the cup " which he had to ' ' drink of," Matt. xx. 22, his passion, 
" the spiritual drink, and spiritual meat " of the Israelites in the 
wilderness ; " for they did all drink of that spiritual rock, struck 
by Moses, and that rock was Christ/' for them, that is, the means 
of appeasing their bodily thirst, as Christ satisfies our moral 
thirst. 1 Cor. x. 4. " The bread that cometh down from 
heaven, the living bread," the emblem of Christ, and all the 
figurative language of this passage in which he says : " Whoso 
eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life ; for my 
flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed," signify, 
according to the just force of the image, that it is necessary for 
believers to receive and imbibe Christianity into their spiritual life, 
in the same manner as food assimilates itself to the bodily nature. 
John, vi. 54, 55. (St. Paul speaks in the very same spirit in his 
Epistle to the Corinthians, of those who profaned the Lord's 
Supper, when he says, that they "ate judgment to themselves." 
Cor. xi. 29.) The words of Christ which immediately follow 
the institution of the Lord's Supper, explain those by which they 
are preceded : He had still before him the cup which he had 
blessed for the communion ; he had just said to his apostles, 
" This is my blood ;" and he adds : ". But I say unto you, I will 
not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day 
when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom," until we 
enjoy the heavenly life together. Matt. xxvi. 29 ; Mark, xiv. 25 ; 
Luke, xxii. 18. 

A single example more will suffice to show the freedom with 
which the sacred authors employed figurative language, without 
fear of misleading by its use. St. Paul says : ■' God hath raised 
us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in 
Christ Jesus." Eph. ii. 6. By taking this verse apart from 
the connexion, it would seem, that the apostle was really speaking 
of the resurrection, properly so called, and of the entrance of the 



*Og NOTES TO BOOK VI. 

just into their future country. By no means. The subject 
relates entirely to this world and not to the other, for the apostle 
adds, that God has conferred this blessing, " that in the ages to 
come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his 
kindness towards us through Jesus Christ ; " the language is 
altogether metaphorical ; the resurrection, of which he speaks, 
a resurrection from sin ; the heavenly glory represents conversion, 
Christian conversion. All this is clear from the connexion of the 
ideas, for, when we e( were dead in trespasses and sins," God 
raised us up from this moral death through Jesus Christ; he 
raised us to heaven — into a new life of faith, obedience, to the 
end that we might be saved in the world to come. 

It is not now for the first time that infidelity has murmured at 
the figurative language of the Scriptures. When Ezekiel repre* 
sen ted to the first captives who were carried away into Asia, the 
approaching destruction of Judah and Jerusalem, under the image 
of a devouring fire, which should destroy '* every green tree and 
every dry tree," some one said of him, " Doth he speak parables? " 
Ezek. xx. 49. 

(79-) A few examples of hyperbole will suffice, — Christ said: 
"I come not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." 
Mark, ii. 17; Luke, v. 32 ; Matt. ix. 12. "I say unto you, 
that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner thatrepenteth, 
more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no 
repentance." Luke, xv. 7- Is it not hyperbolical to speak of 
just persons, who need no repentance ? " Whosoever shall 
smite thee on the right cheek, turn to him the other also ; if any 
man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him 
have thy cloak also. And whosoever shall compel thee to go a 
mile, go with him twain." Matt. v. 3Q — 41. "When thou 
fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face." Matt. vi. 17« 
" Therefore I say unto you, take no thought for your life, what 
ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink ; nor yet for your body what 
ye shall put on. . . . The fowls of the air sow not, neither do 
they reap nor gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feedeth 
them. . . . Take therefore no thought for the morrow : for the 
morrow shall take thought for the things of itself." Matt. vi. 
25 — 34. These admirable lessons of confidence, if taken in a 
perfectly literal sense, would lead to the most reckless improvidence. 
" He that findeth his life shall lose it ; and he that loseth his life 
for my sake, shall find it." Matt. x. 39 ; xvi. 25 ; Mark, viii. 
35 ; Luke, ix. 24. It was in consequence of forgetting the hy- 
perbolical language of these, and such passages as these, that so 
many martyrs rushed to punishment with a senseless fury, against 






NOTES TO BOOK VI. 453 

which the Church at length protested. The faith sufficient to 
"remove mountains," the faith to which "nothing shall be 
impossible," if it be only like a si grain of mustard seed," Matt, 
xvii. 19 ; xxi. 22 ; Mark, xi. 23 ; Luke, xvii. 6, and the riches 
which " cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven (which prevent 
their possessor from becoming a Christian), more easily than a 
camel can pass through the eye of a needle," Matt. xix. 24 ; 
Mark, x. 25 ; Luke, xxviii. 25, are all expressions, the hyper- 
bolical form of which is perfectly obvious. 

(80.) According to the principle previously recognised, that 
God could only speak to man in human language, it follows that 
the Divine work of redemption is represented, in revelation, by 
human works. These expressions, now familiar to our ears, we 
take in a purely Christian sense. In order, however, to arrive 
at their true value, we must go back in thought eighteen centuries, 
and ask what meaning a Jew, or a Pagan, attached to them in the 
time of our Lord and his apostles. The world was then either 
Jew or Gentile ; and it was therefore indispensable, that the first 
teachings of redemption should be conveyed in a phraseology 
suited to their usage and knowledge. In fact, the Jewish or 
Gentile manners and ideas of the time, have furnished the lan- 
guage, become in some measure the most Christian, to designate 
Jesus and his work. 

The law of Moses, as quoted by St. Paul, pronounces a Divine 
curse upon the Israelite, who did not observe it entirely, 
Deut. xxvii. 26 ; that is to say, a threat of Divine chastisements. 
Christ, adds the apostle, has " redeemed you from the curse of 
the law," which has been abrogated by his mission, completed 
and confirmed by his death, and replaced it by a new law, " being 
made a curse for us." How ? " For it is written, cursed is 
every one that hangeth on a tree," Deut. xxi. 23 ; where we are 
informed, that a person so put to death, (" for he that is hanged 
is accursed of God,") was not to be suffered to remain all night 
upon the tree, but to be buried on the day of his execution. 
Gal. iii. 10 — 13. The idea of St. Paul is, that the death of 
Christ put an end to all the severities, rigours, and threats, of the 
Mosaic law, whose curses he is said, so to speak, to have borne 
on the cross, since he was condemned as a transgressor of the 
law. The Jewish colouring in language and modes of thought 
are here obvious. 

" Almost all things are by the law purged with blood ; and 
without shedding of blood is no remission." Heb. ix. 22. The 
rite established by the law of Moses was as follows : Every 
sacrifice offered to obtain pardon for sin was usually attended by 



454 NOTES TO BOOK VI. 

the immolation of a victim, Lev. iv. &c. ; and on the yearly 
feast of atonement, when the high priest entered into the 
holy of holies to pray for the forgiveness of the sins of the 
people, he sprinkled the ark of the covenant with some drops of 
blood of the animals offered up in sacrifice. But, it is said, that 
God hath <c set forth Jesus, to be a propitiation through faith in 
his blood," Rom. iii. 24 ; and that in order to make expiation for 
our sins, ee neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his 
own blood, he hath entered in once into the holy place." Heb. ix. 22. 
It is obvious, that all these images, and a multitude of others, are 
borrowed from Judaism ; and it is contrary to all the rules of 
sound criticism to distort the sense of them and interpret them 
to the letter, especially as the very principle itself, from which 
the analogical reasoning of the sacred author starts, cannot be 
taken in all its strictness and generality, which he himself in- 
timates by the use of the word " almost." This principle is, that 
ee without shedding of blood there is no remission ; " whereas, 
the law did recognise and admit of expiatory sacrifices unattended 
with the shedding of blood : " And if he (the transgressor) be 
not able to bring a lamb . . . then he shall bring two turtle 
doves or two young pigeons unto the Lord ; one for a sin offering, 
and the other for a burnt offering .... But if he be not able 
to bring two turtle doves or two young pigeons, then he that sinned 
shall bring for his offering, the tenth part of an ephah of fine 
flour for a sin offering ; he shall put no oil upon it- neither 
shall he put any frankincense thereon, for it is a sin offering." 

" Then shall he bring it to the priest, and the priest shall 
take his handful of it, even a memorial thereof, and burn it upon 
the altar according to the offerings made by fire unto the Lord : 
for it is a sin offering." Lev. v. 7 — 12. We here see a com- 
plete assimilation of sin offerings with and without shedding of 
blood, and perceive clearly that the essence of the expiation con- 
sisted much less in the blood shed, and the death inflicted, than 
in the gift made to the Lord in the act of reverence, and in the 
person of the priest. In short, a sacrifice, an offering, consists 
much less in shedding the blood of the victim than in its con- 
secration ; according to David : " But who am I, and what is 
my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly after this 
sort ? for all things come of thee, and of thine own have we 
given thee." 1 Chron. xxix. 14. 

It is vain to attempt to lessen the force of these remarks by 
alleging, that Moses only admits sacrifices without blood as an 
expiation for sins of ignorance. The obvious tenor of his whole 
system makes the difference of the offering depend, not on the 



NOTES TO BOOK VI. 455 

difference of the sins to be expiated, but on the poverty of the 
sinner : he is suffered to make expiation for his sin without the 
sacrifice of an animal, not because he has been guilty of a minor 
offence, but because he is poor ; and it follows, that this very 
law of Moses itself destroys all those dogmatic conclusions which 
have been attempted to be deduced from it, by regarding the 
principle of " no remission without shedding of blood," as one 
absolute and unexceptional. The word almost, used by the 
sacred author, brings the New and the Old Testament into 
perfect accord, and proves the opposition of both to the dogma 
of expiation by blood. 

St. Paul says to Timothy, " If a man also strive for masteries, 
yet is he not crowned except he strive lawfully." 2 Tim. ii. 8. 
u I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have 
kept the faith : henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of 
righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give 
me at that day." iv. 7? 8. All these expressions are borrowed 
from the games of the circus : the phrases are, so to speak, 
scenic phrases — the language of the Athletes ; and here every 
thing is borrowed from heathenism. 

The title " Saviour " (synonymous with that of ' ' benefactor," 
which Christ used in its ancient sense, as appears by his applying 
it to the kings of the earth, Luke, xxii. 25), was a name of 
honour among the ancients, and especially among the Greeks ; it 
was bestowed as a testimony of gratitude upon men who had 
deserved well of their country. Jesus is called the Saviour, not 
of a people, but of the whole world. John, iv. 42. " He was 
sent by the Father to be the Saviour of the world." 1 John, iv. 
14. And it was impossible to give contemporaries a higher idea 
of Jesus, or of his works. 

The absolute governments of antiquity were dreadful; slavery 
was horrible ; the greatest possible change of condition, and the 
most valuable of blessings was emancipation ; the work of Jesus 
is, therefore, treated as a liberation, or a redemption (for the 
words are synonymous, because freedom was usually obtained by 
a ransom, or purchase), because he conferred upon mankind 
true spiritual freedom, which had been so long lost, and delivered 
his followers — the world — from the bondage of sin and death ; all 
the terms employed by the ancients in connection with the libe- 
ration or emancipation of slaves, are employed by the sacred 
writers in reference to Christ and his work : " He is made unto 
us ... . redemption," that is, by using the effect for the cause, 
our Redeemer. 1 Cor. i. 30. " The Son of Man came to give 
his life a ransom for many." Matt. xx. 28.; Mark, x. 45. " For 



456 NOTES TO EOOK VI. 

ye are bought with a price." 1 Cor. vi. 20. " Forgiveness of 
sins " has no other signification, and all these expressions are 
employed indifferently : God .... "hath translated us into the 
kingdom of his dear Son, in whom we have redemption through 
his blood, even the forgiveness of sins." Col. i. 14. 

In ancient times, wars were always wars of extermination ; 
dreadful and prolonged calamities, incessantly renewed, produced 
by the hereditary hatred of tribe against tribe, and family against 
family, and founded upon the right of vengeance claimed by 
the nearest of kin ; a right so deeply rooted in public opinion at 
the time of Moses, that the Jewish legislator, being unable to 
destroy it, attempted to soften its barbarity by one of his most 
ingenious laws. Ex. xxi. 13; Deut. xix. 1 — 13. Consequently, 
he who fulfilled the office of a mediator, peace-maker, or recon- 
ciler, with success (for these names are synonymous), displayed 
extraordinary virtue and wisdom, and conferred the most precious 
of blessings. Man, in his condition of sin, selfishness, and ido- 
latry, is spoken of as " an enemy of God," Rom. i. 30 ; and Jesus 
is called, " the one mediator between God and man," 1 Tim, ii. 5 ; 
iC the mediator of the new testament," Heb. ix. 15; xii. 24; 
" the surety of a better testament," Heb. vii. 22 ; e< the mediator 
of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises," 
viii. 6. The best commentary upon the whole of these passages, 
is that given by St. Paul himself, when he says : " For it pleased 
the Father, that in him should all fulness dwell, and having made 
peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things 
unto himself ; by him, I say, whether they be things on earth, or 
things in heaven." Col. i. 1Q, 20. 

But, literally, Jesus was neither a malefactor cursed by the 
law of Moses, a priest entering into the sanctuary, a judge pre- 
siding at the games, a liberator of slaves, nor the mediator of a 
treaty of peace. All these expressions, at present Christian, but 
which were not so in their origin, are merely figures under which 
we must seek for the pure and sublime truths of the Gospel. 

(81.) iC There is one body and one spirit, even as ye are 
called in one hope of your calling ; one Lord, one faith, one 
baptism, one God and father of all. . . " Does it follow, then, 
according to the apostle, that all the disciples of this master, all 
the children of this common father, have attained unto the same 
degree of progress ? No : for he adds, " But unto every one of 
us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ," 
Eph. iv. 4 — 7 ; and it is Christ " from whom the whole body, 
fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint 
supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of 






NOTES TO BOOK VI. 457 

every part maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of 
itself in love." iv. 16*. 

(82.) The principle of the individuality of redemption is 
obvious from many of our Lord's instructions in the Gospel. 
" Ask," says Jesus to the multitude who were listening to his 
sermon on the mount, " ask and it shall be given you ; seek and 
ye shall find ; knock and it shall be opened unto you : for every 
one that asketh, receiveth ; and he that seeketh, findeth ; and to 
him that knocketh, it shall be opened." Matt. vii. 7, 8. These 
words are applied by St. Luke in his Gospel to prayer, whereas 
in the sermon on the mount they are used in a general sense. 
" They that are whole need not a physician, but they that are 
sick ; — for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to 
repentance." Matt. ix. 12; Mark, ii. 17; Luke, vi. 31. Ad- 
mitting, what is indisputable, that every man has need of re- 
demption, it follows, from the declaration of Christ respecting 
the object of his mission, that there are shades of difference in 
redemption according to the wants of the soul. " There was a 
certain creditor which had two debtors ; the one owed five 
hundred pence, and the other fifty. And when they had nothing 
to pay, he frankly forgave them both. Tell me, therefore, 
which of them will love him most ? Simon answered and said, 
I suppose, that he to whom he forgave most. And he said unto 
him, Thou hast rightly judged." Luke, vii. 41 — 43. 

(83.) The object of one of Job's most remarkable discourses 
is intended to show the powerlessness of all human wisdom to 
penetrate the secrets and follow out the ways of Providence, and 
the conclusion of his reflections is this: "And unto men he 
, (God) said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom ; and 

to depart from evil is understanding." Job, xxviii. 28. The 
preacher comes to precisely the same conclusion : " Fear God 
and keep his commandments ; for this is the whole duty of 

tman." Eccles. xii. 13. 
It would require nothing less than the transcript of the whole 
Gospel, to bring forward every thing which is said in proof of 
the principle, that a dogma without its application, knowledge 
without practice, and faith without works, are dead. 
When asked how to obtain eternal life, Christ, having reca- 
pitulated the commandments, said, " This do and thou shalt live," 
Lukefx. 28 ; and when it was answered that all these things had 
been done, what did he ask more ? More faith ? more know- 
ledge ? more dogmatism ? No, he asked for more practice, more 
faithfulness, more love : " Sell all thou hast, and distribute unto 

X 



458 NOTES TO BOOK VI. 

the poor, and come, follow me !" Matt. xix. 21 ; Mark, x. 21 ; 
Luke, xviii. 22. 

There is only a single picture of the judgment given in the 
Gospel : " The sheep on his right hand" are those to whom 
Christ will say, " For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat ; 
I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink ; I was a stranger, and ye 
took me in ; naked, and ye clothed me ; was sick, and ye visited 
me ; I was in prison, and ye came unto me." Matt. xxv. 35, 
36. Of faith and belief there is not a word. 

St. Paul, who is so frequently represented as the defender of the 
doctrine of justification by faith alone; who is said to have placed 
it in the first rank, and degraded works to the second, has in 
reality taught nothing of the kind. It is always forgotten, that 
the Epistles to the Romans and Galatians were written to Ju- 
daizing Christians, or to those at least who regretted Judaism, and 
were desirous of returning to its forms. All the obscurities and 
difficulties in these Epistles will at once disappear if, in reading 
them, the word Christianity is substituted for that of faith, and 
Judaism for works. The plain and obvious meaning will then 
every where appear : it will be seen, that the ceremonies and 
observances of the law of Moses, insufficient in their very nature, 
are not only useless under the dominion of the law of Christ, 
but are calculated to trammel and weaken its moral and spiritual 
virtue and influence. With this view, the apostle quotes the 
example of Abraham, justified by a faith, free from the bondage 
of the law, which did not exist, and a Christian in some measure 
in anticipation, by the firmness of his hope, and the severity of 
his trials : " Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto 
him for righteousness." Rom. iv. 5. '• Therefore we conclude, 
that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law," 
hi. 28 ; or " by works of the flesh/' iv. 1 ; that is, outward and 
material observances. " But," says St. James, " was not Abra- 
ham our father justified by works, when he had offered his son 
Isaac upon the altar ? seest thou how faith wrought with his 
works, and by works was faith made perfect ? Ye see, then, 
how that by works (Christian works) a man is justified, and not 
by faith only." James, ii. 20 — 24. Works are the soul of 
faith, and without a Christian life a Christian faith is nothing. 

In reality, St. Paul, not content with contradicting both St. 
James and St. John, would have belied himself if he had ac- 
tually made any separation between faith and works, and given 
one any precedence over the other. On the contrary, he com- 
bines faith and love : " If any man love God, the same is known 
of him," 1 Cor. iii. 3 ; and, of the three great Christian virtues, 



NOTES TO BOOK VT. 459 

" faith, hope, and charity," he declares, that the " greatest is 
charity." xiii. 15. His doctrine, properly understood, is com- 
pletely in accordance with that of St. James, who maintains that 
faith without works is a soul without a body ; and, according to 
St. Paul, faith, so great as to be sufficient to remove mountains, 
without " charity, is nothing." xiii. 2. 

By teaching the pre-eminence of faith alone above doctrines 
applied to duty, St. Paul would have fallen into precisely the 
same errors as the Jewish doctors, who maintained that the mere 
knowledge of the law was sufficient to secure to the peculiar 
people of God, under the first covenant, the Divine favour ; and 
that dangerous delusion was refuted by St. Paul himself: " For 
not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of 
the law shall be justified." Rom ii. 13. 

According to St. John, " He that saith he abideth in him" — 
believes in Christ — " ought himself also to walk, even as he 
walked. He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and 
there is none occasion of stumbling in him." 1 John, ii. 6 — 10. 

And St. James, availing himself of the most general language, 
by which Christianity might be designated in all its aspects, has 
said : " Pure religion, and undefiled before God and the father, 
is this : to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and 
to keep himself unspotted from the world." James, i. 27. 

(84.) Resemblance between God and man, re-established in its 
purity and glory, embraces knowledge. " I shall know," sap 
St. Paul, " even as also I am known," 1 Cor. xiii. 12 ; that is, 
thoroughly. 

(85.) St Paul, in an admirable passage of his first Epistle to the 
Corinthians, gives most positive instruction concerning the four 
points in dispute: 1st. The necessity of not going out of the 
field of the Gospel, otherwise the question is completely changed: 
2ndly. The immense advantage of religious truth : 3rdly. The 
great danger of religious error : and, 4tbly, the innocence of sin- 
cere error. " For other foundation can no man lay, than that is 
laid, whieh is Jesus Christ. Now if any man build upon this 
foundation, gold, silver, precious stones (sound doctrines), wood, 
hay, stubble (errors) ; every man's work shall be made mani- 
fest : for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by 
fire ; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. 
If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall 
receive a reward. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall 
suffer loss (derive nothing from his error) : but he himself shall 
be saved ; yet so as by fire," that is, not without danger to his 
soul. 1 Cor. iii. 11 — 15. The image of fire, which St. Peter 

x 2 



460 NOTES TO BOOK VI. 



uses in the same sense, 1 Pet i. 7 ; iv. 12, is only here employed 
as a proper continuation of the allegory ; it is the fire of 
crucible, in which metals, instead of being destroyed, are purified 
from dross, and the lighter elements of wood and stubble perish. 

(86.) A remarkable text of St. Paul indicates, that harmony is 
possible between zeal for the truth and the law of charity. Un- 
fortunately this passage, which is very imperfectly translated in 
many versions, cannot be given, in all its force in any. The 
word " truth " in the modern languages, has no corresponding 
verb ; St. Paul's idea is, that it is necessary to profess, seek, and 
teach " the truth in love." Eph. iv. 15. The translation which 
would best express the apostle's meaning would be, — do " the 
truth in love." 

(87-) St. Paul has said : " Endeavour to keep the unity of the 
spirit in the bond of peace," Eph. iv. 3 : not in the bond of 
faith. This duty, however, necessarily involves two others : 
" Him that is weak in the faith receive ye, but not to doubtful 
disputations," Rom. xiv. 1, xv. 1 ; and to reject heretics (that 
is, those who form sects), " after the first and second admonition." 
Tit. iii. 10. 

(88.) In order to lay before our readers those Christian truths 
of the very highest order, which have been impregnated with the 
notions of time and space, and covered over with human varnish, 
it would be necessary to go through the whole Christian system, 
inasmuch as the forms of our thought necessarily become the 
forms of our language. A few examples will suffice. 

Christianity rendered local : Jesus declares, that in the day of 
his death he will be " in paradise," Luke, xxiii. 43 ; on the 
same day he was laid in the tomb. Infidelity has asked how 
these things could be, and whether it is possible to believe in these 
goings and comings from the world to the tomb and to heaven, 
and from heaven and the tomb into the world. The difficulties 
are increased if the passage of St. Peter, applied to the three days 
between Christ's death and his resurrection, be understood in the 
Hebrew sense, as a period of sojourn among the spirits of the de- 
parted : " By which he went also and preached unto the spirits 
in prison." 1 Pet. iii. 19* Questions of the same kind have 
been raised respecting his resurrection : " And when he had 
spoken these things, while they beheld he was taken up ; and 
a cloud received him out of their sight." Acts, i. Q. Taken 
up, where ? Into the atmosphere, into space ? . . . . It is 
obvious, that in all such cases Christianity is localised. The sub- 
stance of these doubts instantly ceases to exist as soon as we 
remember that space has nothing objective in it, and that ascen- 



yed 
the 
Bed 



NOTES TO BOOK VI. 461 

sion is merely the simple fact of the passage of Christ from the 
life of this world to his heavenly life. 

(89«) Christianity rendered temporal. (See Book II. Chap. xrx. 
note 2.) These passages explain the point of view in what con- 
cerns man. As regards Christ, in the character of the only Son of 
God, we read, in the first line of St. John's Gospel : " In the 
beginning was the word/' John, i. 1 ; and we ask how, then, has 
the Infinite Being been able to preserve this inalienable priority. 
.... The inadequacy of the last word betrays the want of 
correctness in the idea ; there can be no question as to subjective 
priority, if time is nothing more than a mere form of human 
thought; everything is present — nothing past — nothing future: 
these are mere forms of our understanding ; and that is all ! 
(See note 104 of this book.) 

(90.) (On the whole of this chapter see Book II. Chap. xxn. 
and its notes.) It is very clear that the future condition both of 
the righteous and the wicked is represented in the Gospel by 
images. Independently of all that has been said in reference to 
the human language of revelation, and the necessity of its writers 
availing themselves of language within the reach and comprehen- 
sion of a first generation of Christians, we cannot, in representing 
any state of existence, do otherwise than borrow the colours of 
our representation from our present mode of being. "It doth 
not yet appear what we shall be," 1 John, iii. 2 ; nor can it 
appear. Hell is, consequently, represented by poetical images of 
punishment ; profound darkness, whence cometh " weeping and 
gnashing of teeth," Matt. viii. 12; xxii. 13; xxiv. 51; xxv. 
30 ; Luke, xiii. 28 ; as u everlasting fire," Matt, xviii. 8 ; 
xxv. 41; Jude, 7; "unquenchable fire,'' Matt. iii. 12; Mark, 
ix. 43 ; Luke, iii. 17 ; "flames," in the midst of which "even 
dipping the tip of the finger in water to cool the tongue ** is 
besought as a blessing, Luke, xvi. 24 ; " torments," the 
" smoke " of which " ascendeth up for ever and ever," Rev. 
xiv. 11; "a worm that dieth not." Mark, ix. 44. These punish- 
ments are undergone in "a great gulf," separated from the 
abodes of the righteous, Luke, xvi. 26 ; and which is called 
"hell," xvi. 23 (properly, according to the Jewish notions, a 
subterranean place of darkness), or " Gehenna, hell-fire." Matt. 
v. 22 ; Mark, ix. 43 ; Luke, xii. 5. Gehenna was the name of 
an originally delightful valley near Jerusalem, which the Jews 
had made the sanctuary of the abominable idolatries of Moloch, 
consisting chiefly in " making their children pass through the 
fire," in burning them in honour of Moloch, at the foot of his 
statue. 1 Kings, xi. 7 ; 2 Kings, xvi. 3, 4. After the destruc- 

x 3 



462 NOTES TO BOOK VI. 

tion of this worship" by Josiah, xxiii. 10, the valley was used as 
a place of reception for the refuse of the city of Jerusalem, the 
dead bodies of animals, and even those of criminals. Continued 
fires were kept burning, to destroy the dangerous effluvia of these 
remains • and the name of the place thus become execrable, was 
adopted to designate the sojourn of the wicked. 

On the other hand, heaven is represented under the figures of 
Oriental splendour, feasts, and festivities, at which the glorified 
ancestors of the chosen people, " Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob," 
presided. Matt. viii. 11. Where the poor, reaping their re- 
ward, are " carried by angels into Abraham's bosom," that is, to 
the first place, nearest to him, Luke, xvi. 22 ; to the heavenly 
table, which is that of the Messiah himself, " to sit on thrones, 
judging the twelve tribes of Israel," Luke, xxii. SO ; Matt. xix. 
28 j where they are " heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ," 
Rom. viii. 17 j put into possession of " the kingdom prepared for 
them by their heavenly Father," Matt. xxv. 34; receiving "crowns 
of glory that fade not away," 1 Pet. v. 4 ; and, finally, where 
they shall " shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their 
Father." Matt. xiii. 43. 

(91.) (See Book II. Chap. xxiv. and its notes.) The com- 
ing of Christ presents, perhaps, the most formidable stone of 
stumbling on which both knowledge and faith make shipwreck. 
All these difficulties spring from that false criticism which has 
so long prevailed and taken its stand upon a foundation which is 
impossible — absolute inspiration. The difficulties disappear be- 
fore the principle of relative inspiration — inspiration, bestowed 
as far as was necessary, leaving the sacred writers to speak their 
own language, and no other whatsoever, The question is one of 
immense importance, — a question which would require a volume, 
and innumerable quotations, fully to illustrate and solve ; its 
essence is as follo'ws: 

The Jews, resting upon an erroneous interpretation of the pro- 
phecies, believed, 1st. In the perpetuity of their law, and their 
worship — and even of their temple, in which God was present. 
The prodigious and magnificent embellishments which Herod the 
Great had just lavished on the temple, gave strength to this me- 
lancholy illusion of their national and religious pride. 

2dly. In the temporal reign of the Messiah : the object of the 
Messiah's mission, according to the pious Hebrews, was to work a 
reform in morals, and to restore the law of Moses to its purity. 
" When he (the Messiah) is come," said the woman of Samaria, 
" he will tell us all things." John, iv. 25. All however believed, 
that he was to triumph over all their enemies, the enemies of the 



NOTES TO BOOK VI. 463 

Jews ; to exalt Israel to be a royal nation ; to make Jerusalem 
the capital of the world ; — its temple, the sanctuary of all na- 
tions ; and after a flourishing reign of more or less duration (for 
the duration was a point of dispute in the Jewish schools), to 
transport all his faithful subjects to the heavenly Jerusalem. 

3dly. In an end of the world, a material end of the world, which 
would happen, so to speak, when : The elements should be dis- 
solved, — the heavens rolled up, — the stars shaken from the fir- 
mament, — the globe on fire ; and this to be followed by the resur- 
rection and the general judgment ; events at which the Messiah 
was to preside, appearing on the clouds of heaven, and sur- 
rounded by legions of angels. 

All these notions were current among the Jews, before the 
Gospel : Jesus did not give them birth, but found them existing 
in their minds ; they were, in fact, so general and popular, and 
so familiar in their mouths that, 1. The cessation of their worship ; 
2. The destruction of the temple ; 3. The fall of Jerusalem; 4. 
The reign and coming of the Messiah ; 5. The end of the world ; 
and 6. Resurrection and judgment, were terms and phrases almost 
synonymous in the minds of the Jews, — events almost simul- 
taneous, 

The apostles and disciples of Jesus were Jews, in the fullest 
sense of the word, and imbued with all the Jewish opinions of 
their age. 

Curiosity, and especially that of humble and ill-informed men, is 
always easily excited by the vague and impressive perspective of the 
close of human destiny in this world; and the more the ministry 
of Christ gained ground, the more his apostles and disciples be- 
gan to place confidence in him as the Messiah ; the more was 
their curiosity necessarily inflamed with the idea of all these 
coming events. This curiosity, which was at once patriotic and 
religious, full of affection for Christ, natural, and in this sense, 
legitimate, — but indiscreet and dangerous, was so strongly 
founded on deeply-rooted prejudices, that it could not possibly be 
immediately dispelled ; it was of such a nature that Christ 
could neither thoroughly enlighten it, impose complete silence on 
its working, nor merely avoid taking notice of its existence. 

If, however, we pay attention to things and not to words, if 
we attentively compare the teachings of our Lord, and the cir- 
cumstances in which they were delivered, we shall discover that, 
in this situation, Christ prescribed to himself three rules of ac- 
tion from which he never departs, and whose wisdom and justice 
are fully established by the complete success with which they 
were attended. 

x 4 



464 NOTES TO BOOK VI. 

1. As regarded the destruction of Jerusalem and its temple, of 
the religion and nationality of the Jews, he announced the period 
of it clearly enough, not by a precise date, hut by fixing it within 
such narrow limits that, after the event especially, no one could 
be deceived. 

2. As regarded. his temporal reign, the political triumph, the 
glory and earthly prosperity, which they expected in the time of 
Messiah, the king, he expressed himself vaguely to his disciples, 
assured that their error would be dissipated in time, and by the 
course of events; he was pleased to suffer this progress to be 
slowly accomplished, by their faith, love, and humility. 

3. As regarded the end of the world, properly so called, in the 
only sense which Christianity assigns to this phrase (see Book II. 
Chap. xxiv. and its notes), Christ simply declared himself igno- 
rant of the time of the event; and, a fortiori, it is obvious, that he 
never for a moment entertained the idea of giving his apostles 
information concerning it, but that they too were ignorant of it, 
as We also remain. 

An accessory observation may be here made : that the most 
figurative and hyperbolical expressions were natural to the genius 
of the East, in reference to this subject. (See note 79. of this 
Book.) 

If now, keeping all that has been said present in our minds, 
we proceed to an analysis of the texts, our attention is naturally 
first called to the remarkable conversation held by Christ with his 
apostles, and recorded in the three synoptical Gospels, Matt. xxiv. ; 
Mark, xii. ; Luke, xxi. ; and a single remark will serve to open 
up and explain the whole. The whole of this chapter is not a 
connected discourse, but a dialogue between Christ and his 
apostles, of which the evangelists have recorded the answers of 
our Lord, without recording the questions of his apostles. The 
innumerable discussions and reasonings to which this passage of 
the New Testament has been subjected, and the violence to which 
criticism has resorted to remove the difficulties that surround it, 
have all arisen from the attempt to give it a connection and unity 
which it does not possess. 

The mode above referred to is by no means unusual with the 
evangelists : examples abound to prove, that in giving accounts 
of the conversations of Jesus, the evangelists limited themselves 
to recording his answers, and sometimes in the form of a mono- 
logue — a continuous discourse. The objects, remarks, and 
questions of his interlocutors are understood. Christ, in fact, did 
not deliver a discourse; he conversed. 

Jesus was going out of the temple ; his disciples expressed their 



NOTES TO BOOK VI. 465 

admiration of the buildings, Matt. xxiv. ; of " the stones/' Mark, 
xiii. 1 ; and " the goodly stones and gifts " with which ei it was 
adorned/' Luke, xxi. 5 ; when he said to them, fi See ye not 
all these things ? Verily, I say unto you, there shall not be left 
here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down." 
The remark created a lively sensation in their minds ; and when 
arrived at the summit of Gethsemane, from whence they had a 
full view of the temple and its splendour, his disciples asked him 
saying: " Tell us when shall these things be?" (which shews 
that the conversation had continued by the way), f; and what shall 
be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world ? " They 
ask concerning all these things, and yet they ask for one sign 
only (the Gospels are uniform in the record) ; and this is a posi- 
tive proof, that, as has been observed, "all these things" consti- 
tuted in the minds of the disciples of Jesus, simultaneous events, 
or events dependent upon and closely following one upon another. 

It is difficult, not to say impossible, to separate into distinct 
answers, arranged one by one, the words of Christ throughout 
this conversation ; the vagueness of the adverbs of time with 
which the language is interspersed, is the main cause of the dif- 
ficulty ; but it is not less clear, 1st. That he says nothing of his 
pretended temporal kingdom. 

2dly. That he fixes the period of the destruction and fall of 
Jerusalem and of the temple, or of his coming to take vengeance 
on the Jews : " Verily I say unto you, this generation shall not 
pass till all these things be fulfilled." Matt. xxiv. 34 ; Mark, xiii. 
30 ; Luke, xxi. 32. By speaking thus he confirmed what he had 
said to the apostles, after their first mission : " Ye shall not have 
gone over the cities of Israel till the Son of Man be come," Matt. 
x. 23 ; (words which it is impossible to understand in the absurd 
sense in which some critics interpret them : I shall see you again 
before your task is finished.) He had just said : "■ They shall 
deliver you up to the councils, and they will scourge you in their 
synagogues ; and ye shall be brought before governors and kings 
for my sake," x. 17, 18 ; and these predictions, which could have 
no reference to their first attempts at propagating the Gospel, 
which took place during the life of Jesus, prove that he is speak- 
ing of apostolic labours after his death. Thus, again, in another 
case, Jesus delivering a discourse, a few days before his death, 
much in the spirit of his sermon on the mount, concludes his 
reproofs of the scribes and Pharisees in these words : " Behold 
your house is left unto you desolate. For I say unto you, ye 
shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that 
cometh in the name of the Lord/' xxiii. 38, 39 ; that is, till you 

x 5 



486 NOTES TO BOOK VI. 

shall be forced to acknowledge me as the Messiah. By this 
threat he positively declared, that many of his auditors should be 
still living on his coming to judge the nation — in a word, at the 
destruction of Jerusalem. 

A very curious trait in the conversation will serve to complete 
the proof of our Saviour's intention to fix the period of this great 
disaster with a sufficient degree of accuracy : ei But pray ye, 
that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day." 
Matt. xxiv. 20; Mark, xiii. 18. Christ, in the person of his 
apcscles, here addresses himself to their fellow-countrymen, the 
Jews in general. The word flight in this passage signifies exile 
or transportation; and our Lord's idea is, that the dispersion of the 
nation would be accompanied with very great sufferings in the 
severe season, and at the times of the great feasts. History, in 
fact, attests, that the Jews looked upon it as a mark of the Divine 
indulgence, that Jerusalem, after its first overthrow, should have 
been taken by the armies of Babylon during summer, in the 
months of July and August, 2 Kings, xxv. 3 — 8; Jer. lii. 6 — 12; 
and that, during the siege of Titus, they suffered dreadfully from 
their fanaticism in not defending themselves on the feast days 
and the sabbath. 

Every thing, therefore, agrees in showing Christ's intention 
to fix, within sufficient limits, the period of the great national 
calamity with which the Jews were threatened, so as to leave no 
doubts on the minds of his followers, that that event would hap- 
pen whilst they were yet living, before their generation had dis- 
appeared. Why this prophecy of a proximate time ? The 
reason is clear, grave, obvious : it was necessary that the end of 
the Mosaic system, the destruction of the nationality of the 
people of God, who had refused to be the people of Christ, 
should not be regarded, either by Jews or Christians, as a revolu- 
tion, a war, an ordinary conquest ; it was necessary that the part 
taken by Providence in this immense disaster should be manifest 
to the eyes of all. 

3rdly. As regarded the period of the end of the world, properly 
so called, " That day and that hour, which knoweth no man, no 
not the angels, which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the 
Father ; " Mark, xiii. 32. it is obvious, by the use of such 
language, that Christ did not wish to leave any kind of hope in 
the minds of his followers of being able to penetrate into this 
mystery. He does not say of the end of the world, that it is 
near or will be distant, that it will happen soon or a long time 
after the destruction of the temple and worship of the Jews. He 
says nothing on the subject, and abandons it completely to the 
faith of his followers. 



NOTES TO BOOK VI. 467 

It so happened, that the Jewish element was still so dominant 
in their minds, that they mistook the tendency of our Lord's 
language ; but in proportion as time rolled on, in proportion as 
Christ's followers observed Christianity continuing its march, 
advancing slowly, and step by step, their mistake began to disap- 
pear. It is a fact, well ascertained, that the first three Gospels, 
the Acts, St. Paul's Epistles, that of St, James and the first of 
Peter, were written before the destruction of Jerusalem, and that 
St. John wrote after that event. If we follow the Epistles of 
. St. Paul in their chronological order, the earlier are those in 
which his expectation of the end of the world is that of a proxi- 
mate event, and in the latter his language on this subject is mo- 
dified, and the coming of Christ is regarded as distant. 

In the first Epistle to the Thessalonians St. Paul says : " For 
the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with 
the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God : then we 
which are alive and remain, shall be caught up together with 
them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air." 1 Thess, iv. 17. 

All the ingenuity of criticism has failed to give these words 
any other than the natural sense which they present. The 
apostle, in this passage, evidently confounds the different comings 
of the Lord. It is certain, also, that in the second Epistle he 
anticipates the abuse which might easily be made of his language, 
and is careful not to leave those, to whom he wrote, under the 
impression, that the coming of the Lord was a thing which might 
take place at any moment : <c Now we beseech you, brethren, by 
the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering 
together unto him, that ye be not so soon shaken in mind, or be 
troubled neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, 
as that the day of Christ is at hand." 2 Thess. ii. 1. 

In the Epistle to the Corinthians, about five years later in date 
than that to the Thessalonians, his language is, perhaps, still a 
little less precise : " Then cometh the end, when he shall have 

delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father the 

last enemy that shall be destroyed, is death Behold, I show 

you a mystery ; we shall nox all sleep, but we shall all be 
changed . . . the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall 
be changed." 1 Cor. xv. 24-26. 51, 52. 

In his Epistles written from Rome, about five years later still 
tban those to the Corinthians, a new shade of difference is to be 
observed in the language employed by the apostle on this sub- 
ject. Fie merely observes: " For our conversation is in heaven; 
from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, 
who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like 

x 6 



468 NOTES TO BOOK VI. 

unto his glorious body." Phil. iii. 20, 21. " When Christ, 
who is our life., shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him 
in glory." Col. iii. 4. 

In his last Epistle — the second to Timothy, written shortly 
before his death, the difference is still more obvious ; the apostle 
is far from having renounced the idea of the last day of the world, 
which had already commenced, 2 Tim. iii. 1 ; or the notion of a 
coming of the Lord, iv. 8 ; or that of the presence of the " quick 
and the dead," at the day of judgment, iv. 1 ; but without fixing 
anything with precision, he limits himself to affirming, with his 
invincible confidence: " I know whom I have believed, and am 
persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed 
unto him against that day." i. 12. 

The Epistles and Gospel of St. John, written after the destruc- 
tion of Jerusalem, do not contain a word in relation to the first 
coming, that is, to the fall of the Mosaic system and the destruc- 
tion of the temple. There is only one reference to the resurrec- 
tion cc at the last day," John, vi. 40. Does it follow, that St. 
John did not believe in a coming of the Lord ? By no means. 
In his Epistle he writes, " And now little children abide in him, 
that when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be 
ashamed before him at his coming." 1 John, ii. 28. And 
further, " Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not 
yet appear what we shall be : but we know, that when he shall 
appear, we shall be like him." iii. 2. From such language, how- 
ever, it was very difficult to draw any precise conclusions as to 
the period of the coming. The only passage from which it 
might be supposed that St. John regarded the event as near, is 
this : " Little children, it is the last time : and as ye have heard 
that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; 
whereby we know, that it is the last time." 1 John, ii. 18. This 
passage has been very variously interpreted. The apostle has 
just observed : " The world passeth away, and the lust thereof," 
ii. 17 ; and by a very natural association of ideas, his mind 
passes to the scenes of the destiny of man. The sense of this 
passage may be compared with the reply of Christ to the curiosity 
of Peter ; an answer which John has preserved : Peter, curious 
to know something of the destiny and end of John, said to 
Christ, " Lord, and what shall this man do ? Jesus saith unto 
him, if I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee ? " 
John, xxi. 22. This answer, bally understood, led to an 
opinion among the disciples, that " that disciple should not die;" 
that is, that he should live till the coming : and the evangelist 
adds, " Yet Jesus said not unto him, he shall not die ; but, if I 



NOTES TO BOOK VI. 469 

will that he tarry till I come,, what is that to thee ? " All that 
can be concluded from these comparisons is, that the period of 
the coming of the Lord was very uncertain in the mind of the 
apostle. 

The whole of this examination proves the justness of our 
remarks on the silence and observations of Jesus in reference to 
this matter ; and the religious deduction to be drawn from it is, 
that human intelligence, even when illumined by inspiration, is 
unable to discover the mysteries which God has been pleased to 
veil. 

(92.) St. Paul, having laid down the principle of the universal 
responsibility of man, within and without the circle of revelation, 
and thus shewn that God has a right to call every man into judg- 
ment, adds these remarkable words : <e In the day when God 
shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to my 
Gospel." Rom. ii. 16. 

(93.) In the very midst of those purely objective expressions, 
by which the coming of the Lord is represented in the saered 
volume, a few traits present themselves, in which the subjective 
sense, very vaguely indeed, appears. 

" When he (the Lord)," says St. Paul, " shall come to be 
glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe 
(because our testimony among you was believed) in that day," 
2 Thess. i. 10; ' in whom, though now ye see him not, yet 
believing ye rejoice," says St. Peter. 1 Peter, i. 8. " And unto 
them that look for him shall he appear the second time, without 
sin unto salvation." Heb. ix. 28. " Behold, he cometh with 
clouds ; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced 
him." Rev. i. 7- 

(94.) This distrust of the future glory of the Gospel springs 
from ignorance ; how can minds, which disown or do not compre- 
hend Christianity, form any idea of its conquests, the progress of 
believers, and the triumphs of their Divine chief? No conclu- 
sion whatever can be drawn from the distrust of sceptics ; they 
are of the world; and Jesus said, both of his disciples and of 
himself, " They are not of the world, even as I am not of the 
world." John, xvii. 16". 

(95.) The heavenly life, the reign of Christ in heaven is 
clearly taught in the Gospel : " For though he was crucified 
through weakness, yet he liveth by the power of God." 2 Cor. 
xiii. 4. The Hebrew poets represent God as seated upon a 
throne in heaven, like a king and judge : " The Lord hath pre- 
pared his throne for judgment," Ps. ix. 7; " the Lord's throne 
is in heaven," xi. 4 ; and this image has given rise to that of 



470 NOTES TO BOOK VI. 

" sitting on his right hand," to express the highest degree of sub- 
ordinate glory and power : " He was received up into heaven, 
and sat on the right hand of God," Mark, xvh 19; " who is 
gone into heaven and is on the right hand of God," 1 Peter, iii. 
22 ; " and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places," 
Ephes. i. 20 ; " he sat down on the right hand of the Majesty 
on high." Heb. i. 3. 

The notion of a kingdom implies that of subjects ; and the 
Gospel in a multitude of passages attests the continuance of the 
relation between man and their Saviour and head. 

If " eternal life " (that is to say, in the text, the condition of 
arriving at eternal happiness), is to know, " the only true God 
and Jesus Christ, whom he has sent," John, xvii. 3 ; how can 
it be at once neglected and fulfilled ? 

If, " When we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by 
the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be 
saved by his life," Rom. v. 10; his life in heaven, for he speaks 
of that which followed his earthly death. The notion of the 
apostle therefore is, that our reconciliation to God will continue 
to be progressive : " Thus we are joint heirs with Christ." 
viii. 17. 

St. Paul, when speaking of the propriety or necessity of Chris- 
tians observing the ceremonies of the Mosaic law, says : " For 
none of us liveth to himself and no man dieth to himself; " that 
is to say, apart from dependence on the Lord, " for whether we 
live, we live unto the Lord," to be submissive to him ; or " whether 
we die, we die unto the Lord," to be judged by him ; " whether 
we live, therefore, or die, we are the Lord's," subject to his com- 
mandment, and amenable to his judgment. " For to this end 
Christ both died and rose and revived, that he might be Lord 
both of the dead and living." xiv. 7 — 9* 

" Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus, shall raise 
us up also by Jesus," says St. Paul to the Corinthians, and " shall 
present us with you." 2 Cor. iv. 14. 

" Christ is far above ail principality, and power, and might, 
and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this 
world, but also in that which is to come." Ephes. 1. 21. " He is 
the head of the body, the Church : who is the beginning, the first 
born from the dead ; that in all things he might have the pre- 
eminence," that is in this world and the world to come ; (< and 
having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to 
reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say 3 whether they 
be things in earth, or things in heaven." Col. i. 20, 21. For 
the moment " your life is hid with Christ in God," or with the 



NOTES TO BOOK VI. 471 

life of Christ ; and it is of the heavenly life he speaks, when he 
says ; " When Christ who is our life (who gives it) shall appear, 
then shall ye also appear with him in glory." iii. 3, 4. 

" Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him 
a name, which is above every name .... of things in heaven, and 
things in earth, and things under the earth (see Book II. Chap. 
xxiii. note 34.), that every tongue should confess, that Jesus 
Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." Phil. ii. 9—11. 

(96.) At present, " we walk by faith and not by sight." 
2 Cor. v. 7. The reverse will be our manner of walking in the 
future life. 

(97«) According to our Lord's promise in the parable of the 
talents, those servants, who in this world "have been faithful 
over a few things, shall be made rulers over many things " in 
a better life. The water which shall quench all spiritual thirst, 
" shall spring up into everlasting life," John, iv. 14; the meat 
that does not perish, is that " which endureth unto everlasting 
life." vi. 27. The force of the Greek particle indicates, not merely 
an effect which leads to the life of heaven, but which is there 
prolonged. " Charity," says the apostle Paul, " never faileth." 
1 Cor. xiii. 8. 

A very remarkable passage in the Epistle to the Hebrews 
fully confirms the idea of a Christianity in heaven ; all those 
who lived by faith, and upon whom the author pronounces a 
eulogy in this chapter : " Looked for a city, which hath founda- 
tions, whose builder and maker is God," xi. 10 ; "and confessed 
that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth," xi. 13 ; " who 
desired a better country, that is, a heavenly." xi. 16. " And 
these all, having obtained a good report (in this world) through 
faith, received not the promise : God having provided for us 
(Christians) some better thing, that they without us should not be 
made perfect." xi. 39, 40. 

(98.) Thus, St. Paul and St. Peter, speaking of the times an- 
terior to the Gospel, employ this remarkable expression : " The 
times of this ignorance." Acts, xvii. 30; 1 Peter, i. 14. (See 
the following note.) 

(99') We are not permitted to cast a doubt upon the fact, 
that unavoidable ignorance, of which God alone is the judge, and 
which unquestionably exists in an infinite variety of degrees 
without and within the Church, will be regarded as a justification 
before the tribunal of the supreme judgment . " Therefore to him 
that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not. to him it is sin " 
James, iv. 17. " For where no law is, there is no transgression." 
Rom. iv. 15. "And some of the Pharisees, which were with 



472 NOTES TO BOOK VI. 

him, heard these words and said unto him, are we hlind also ? 
Jesus said unto them, if ye were blind, ye should have no sin." 
John, ix. 41. "And about the eleventh'hour he went out, and 
found others standing idle, and saith unto them, why stand ye 
here all the day idle ? They say unto him, because no man hath 
hired us." Matt. xx. 6', 7. St. Paul, overwhelmed with regret 
and remorse for having persecuted the followers of Jesus, never- 
theless avers, that he " did it (sinned) ignorantly in unbelief." 
1 Tim. i. 13. And our Divine master has given his sanction to 
the recognition of this principle, by his admirable prayer : 
" Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." Luke, 
xxiii. 34. 

It is, moreover, so much the more necessary to admit that God 
alone must be the judge of this condition of the soul, as there 
exists a kind of ignorance, of evil alloy, which is not, if we may 
so say, sufficiently involuntary, and with which the heart is more 
chargeable than the mind. In the time of the Gospel, there 
were many examples of this kind ; among the Jews ; these were 
the men of whom Christ said : " They loved darkness rather 
than light, because their deeds were evil." John, iii. 19- And 
amongst the Gentiles : St. Paul accuses them of an ignorance by 
which, they were " alienated from the life of God through the 
ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their 
hearts." Eph. iv. 1?, 18. 

(100.) It is above all, important to observe, that the question 
is by no means disposed of by the use of the word eternal. In 
the modern languages, this word is used in one sense only, and 
indicates infinite duration, when spoken of God ; and perpetual, 
when applied to his creatures. In the Greek, this adjective, as 
well as the substantive from which it is derived, has a variety 
of meanings j its primitive meaning is merely that of duration, 
long or short, definite or indefinite. Those words are, therefore, 
according to circumstances, rendered by all those different words 
which express the notion of duration, past, present, or future. 
Jesus, in speaking of the fig-tree, said : " Let no fruit grow on 
thee henceforward for ever." Matt. xxi. 19. " Peter saith unto 
him, thou shalt never wash my feet." John, xii. 8. In these pas- 
sages, for ever and never are the same. The word is sometimes 
taken to express the duration of the present life : "Wherefore," says 
St. Paul, "• if meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh 
while the world standeth," as long as I live. 1 Cor. viii. 1 3. Not- 
withstanding these restricted meanings, the word might be the more 
easily taken in its etymological sense to be always, as it is used some- 
times in the singular, and sometimes in the plural. Thus, it is em- 



NOTES TO BOOK VI. 473 

ployed to denote absolute eternity : " For thine is the kingdom, and 
the power, and the glory for ever," Matt. vi. 13; "the Creator, who 
is blessed for ever," Rom. i. 25 ; ix. 5 ; xi. 36 ; or, " To whom be 
glory for ever and ever." Gal. i. 5. And the Jews said of the Mes- 
siah : " We have heard out of the law, that Christ abideth for 
ever." John, xii. 34>. In a multitude of other passages, however, 
this word merely means the future life in opposition to the present; 
this signification is obvious in the sentence: " Whosoever speaketh 
against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in 
this world, neither in the world to come." Matt. xii. 32. The very 
same word here denotes the life which terminates and that which 
has no end ; and this text proves beyond dispute, that the word 
does not always bear the meaning of eternal duration, even when 
it is applied to Christianity. This meaning is confirmed by 
another remarkable passage in the Gospels : Jesus speaking of 
those who shall have left all to follow him, says, " They shall 

receive an hundredfold now in this time and in the world 

to come, eternal life," Mark, x. 30 ; Luke, xviii. 30 ; that is to 
say, in the heavenly life, in opposition to the earthly rewards pre- 
viously mentioned. To translate it differently would be to say, 
shall receive in eternity, eternal life — a senseless pleonasm. St. 

Paul, too, employs this word in a double meaning Christ is 

said by him to be far above all dignities, " not only in this world, 
but in that which is to come." Ephes. i. 21. 

It is impossible to avoid concluding from a review of these 
passages, that the doctrine of eternal punishment is a mere de- 
duction from, and not a positive declaration of the sacred books ; 
it has been said, the future life is eternal ; there will be punish- 
ments ; punishments, therefore, are eternal ; the petitio principii 
in this attempt at argumentation is flagrant. In aid of such rea- 
soning as this, a corresponding interpretation has been put upon 
the famous passage : " And those (the wicked) shall go away into 
everlasting punishment ; but the righteous into life eternal." 
Matt. xxv. 46. The examination, however, in which we have 
been engaged, all goes to demonstrate that the word everlasting in 
this phrase simply signifies future, in opposition to what is tem- 
poral and present. The sense, therefore, is this : the wicked shall 
go to the punishments of the world to come, and the righteous to 
the life, that is, to the happiness of this new world ; and our 
Divine master himself has given the true commentary upon this 
passage when he said : " All that are in their graves shall come 
forth ; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life ; 
and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation*** 
John, v. 20. 



474 NOTES TO BOOK VI. 

(101.) That afflictions and sufferings are to be regarded as 
moral lessons, and means of moral and religious progress in the 
human soul, is one of the principles of all schools, and a principle 
which the Holy Scriptures express in the plainest and most 
affecting terms : fe Before I was afflicted, I went astray ; but 
now have I kept thy word. It is good for me that I have been 
afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes." Ps. cxix. 67. 71. 
" Now, no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but 
grievous: nevertheless, afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruits 
of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby/' Heb. 
xii. 11. To suffer is always to suffer; and it remains yet to be 
proved, that sufferings endured by the same being may be reme- 
dial, and are remedial in this life, and are not so in the life to 
come. 

(102.) It requires no ordinary prudence and sagacity to de- 
duce positive conclusions from a parable, in which every thing is 
poetry and fiction : the instruction lies more in the spirit of the 
whole than in its details. There are, nevertheless, parables in 
which each trait conveys a definite meaning ; and Jesus Christ 
himself has furnished us with an example of this kind of inter- 
pretation, in his explanations of the parable of the sower, and that 
of the tares. Matt. xiii. 18 — 23, and 36 — 43. "And in hell 
he (the rich man) lifts up his eyes, being in torment, and seeth 
Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom." Luke, xvi. 23. 
The meaning, obviously, is, that the condemned continue to have 
a sense of what they have lost : The wicked man said to Abraham, 
" Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to my 
father's house, for I have five brethren ; that he may testify unto 
them, lest they also come into this place of torment." xvi. 27. 
It might be argued, from this passage, that the condemned have 
still good feelings, but this would be apart from the object of the 
parable ; but what may at least be truly and justly concluded 
from it is, that the condemned assuredly preserve a clear and dis- 
tinct feeling of their responsibility. Hell is inconceivable in any 
other sense. 

(103.) Difference of responsibility : " For unto whomsoever 
much is given, of him shall be much required ; and to whom 
men have committed much, of him they will ask the more." 
Luke, xii. 48. Jesus said to Pilate : " Therefore he that de- 
livereth me unto thee hath the greater sin." John, xix. 11. 
" Every one will receive the things done in his body." 2 Cor. 
v. 10. " For as many as have sinned without law, shall also 
perish (be punished) without law : and as many as have sinned 
in the law, shall be judged by the law." Rom. ii. 12. 



NOTES TO BOOK VI. 495 

Difference of retribution : l< And that servant which knew his 
lord's will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his 
will, shall be beaten with many stripes ; but he that knew not, 
and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with 
few stripes." Luke, xii. 47, 48. Jesus, availing himself of a 
hyperbolical adage, which occurs very frequently in his dis- 
courses, said of the towns of Judea which refused to receive his 
apostles, or disciples : " But I say unto you, it shall be more 
tolerable in that day for Sodom than for that city" which refused 
you. " It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the judg- 
ment," Pagan and very corrupt cities. Matt. x. 15, xi. 22; 
Mark, vi. 11 ; Luke, x. 12 — 14. These words were of so much 
more dreadful import in the ears of the Jews, as the recollection 
of the fearful visitation which befel the cities of the plain had 
long been regarded by them as an image of the most tremendous 
Divine judgments : " For the punishment of the iniquity of the 
daughter of my people," says Jeremiah in his Lamentations, if is 
greater than the punishment of the sins of Sodom, that was over- 
thrown as in a moment, and no hands stayed on her." Lam. iv. 
6. u It rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed 
them all," Luke, xvii. 29 ; and in the Book of Revelation, Sodom, 
the city of the crucifixion, Rev. xi. 8, is used as an image of 
Jerusalem ; whilst Babylon represents Rome, the city of the 
seven hills, xvii. 9, recently set on fire by Nero, xvii. 16 — 
18. To announce punishments, therefore, more dreadful than 
those which befel the accursed cities, was to announce a just 
measure, even in the most awful manifestations of Divine justice. 

(104.) The general restoration of mankind, in virtue of re- 
demption, is taught with a degree of clearness suitable to this 
mystery : God " having made known unto us the mystery of his 
will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed to 
himself: that in the dispensation of the fulness of times, he might 
gather together in one all things in Christ (that is, the whole 
human race), both which are in heaven, and which are on earth " 
(that is, all our generations). Eph. i. 10. " For he hath put all 
things under his (Christ's) feet. But when he saith all things 
are put under him ; it is manifest that he is excepted, which did 
put all things under him. And when all things shall be subdued 
unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him 
that put all things under him, that God may be all in all." 1 Cor. 
xv. 27, 28. Then only will redemption be consummated. 

This noble and exalted doctrine, the last word of God to man, 
founded upon the whole of that theory of the Gospel which our 
work has explained, meets with an incomparable guarantee in 



476 NOTES TO BOOK VI. 

those passages which seem to attribute the creation to Jesus 
Christ; and that doctrine, in its turn, finds a guarantee in this, 
because this alone furnishes a satisfactory explanation of it, both 
to reason and faith. <c All things were made by him the Word 
(that is, by means of), and without him was not any thing made 
that was made." John, i. 3. " But to us there is but one God, op 
whom are all things and we for him ; and one Lord Jesus Christ, 
by whom are all things, and we by him (by his means), 1 Cor. 
viii. 6 ; who (Christ) is the image of the invisible God, the first- 
born of every creature ; for by (fob) him were all things created, 
that were in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, 
whether they be thrones or dominions, or principalities or powers 
(see Book V. Chap. lvj. note 33) ; all things were created by him 
and fob him ; and he is before all things, and in him all things 
consist." Col. i. 15 — 17. God has made his Son heir of all 
things, and " by whom also he made the worlds — upholding all 
things by the word of his power." Heb. i. 2, 3. The word in 
the original here employed, conveys three ideas : those of sustain- 
ing, preserving, and governing. 

The mere reading of these passages is a sufficient proof that 
the prepositions of the Greek language, whose multifarious signi- 
fications have so marvellously exercised the sagacity of inter- 
preters and philologists, have a great deal to do with determining 
the sense. No objection of any weight, drawn from the use of 
language, can be alleged against the translation as given above, 
whose shades of meaning, as may be supposed, are of great im- 
portance. These texts embrace three distinct ideas: 1st. The 
origin of all things, God; the supreme — infinite — first cause 
— the spontaneous source from which all things proceed. 2ndly. 
The means, instrumentality, agency in creation — Christ, by 
whom are all things — and who, consequently, is the first-born of 
creation. Srdly. The final object of creation, Christ again — 
for whom, or in whom, all things consist, renewed and re- 
created by his redemption. 

Do these passages, so understood, present any thing contra- 
dictory to Holy Scripture, which attributes creation to God alone ; 
which, with the exception of these passages, gives no countenance 
to the idea of an intermediate instrumentality ; which leaves the 
Being of Beings to act (so to speak) in his absolute unity, which 
assimilates in the Divine acts their purpose and accomplishment ? 
(See Book I. Chap. x. note 38.) It is remarkable that the apparent 
contradiction is indicated by St. Paul, who, in another place, ap- 
plies to God alone the three ideas, which we are attempting to 
analyse, and in order to express them employs the three preposi- 



NOTES TO BOOK VI. 477 

tions whose meanings we have just determined. " For of him 
(God), and through him, and to him are all things." Rom. xi. 36. 

These exalted revelations do not present a shade of contra- 
diction, if we remember that time — merely the framework of 
thought — a form of the understanding — does not exist for God, 
but only for man ; that creation and redemption are therefore 
simultaneous acts, inseparable, and essentially identical ; that re- 
demption is the indispensable complement of creation, without 
which its object would not have been fulfilled, and is therefore 
(humanly speaking) of the same date as creation ; that, con- 
sequently, it is perfectly just to say, that all things have been 
made by the Son ; since, without his participation — that is, with- 
out redemption, a real life would have been replaced by an exist- 
ence which is merely a kind of death ; that it is equally true to 
say, all things have been made for him, and consist for or in 
him, since the true existence — the intelligent, moral, sensitive, and 
religious existence — finds its inexhaustible and only nutriment 
in redemption ; since the normal development of creation only 
takes place by the way which he has opened and keeps open ; 
and, finally, since none of the magnificent arrangements of crea- 
tion would have been possible had not the Son been " in the be- 
ginning" with God, " before all things," before that creation 
which he was to maintain and direct — " the first-born of every 
creature." 

And who does not perceive that these revealed truths, the 
most exalted which the Gospel contains, are irreconcileable with 
the expectation of an eternal hell ? We conclude, therefore, that 
nothing is definite and eternal except heaven — that is to say, 
progress. 



478 



ANALYTICAL TABLE 



CONTENTS. 



BOOK I. 

man, god, and creation. 

Page 

Source of Certainty — Consciousness of Existence — it 
has a Beginning — its Cause without us - 1 

Human Tendencies: Intellectual — Moral — those of the 
Affections — of Sensitiveness — and of Religion, directed 
towards the Infinite, the Ideal - - - 3 

Definition of the Ideal — it serves as a Measure of our 
Judgment — its Reality - - - 3 

Human Will — does not produce our Tendencies — 
directs them — may destroy their Equilibrium, because 
they are distinct — Hence, our Characters and our 
Errors - - - - - 5 

Objects of our first Four Tendencies — Truth — Holi- 
ness — Relations — Happiness - — Whence the Certainty 
of the Existence of Not-self, which frequently forms 
an obstacle, and creates the love of the marvellous - 8 

Not-self comprehends our fellow Men, all different each 
from the other (law of difference), and yet connected 
with one another (law of reciprocity) - - -12 

Necessity for a Means of Relation — Language — Un- 
equally useful to our Tendencies — Proof of the Exist- 
ence of Not-self - - - - - 13 

What precedes refutes — Pyrrhonism — Pantheism — 
Absolute Spiritualism, and the pretended Doctrine of 
Reminiscence - - - - - - 16 

Not-self comprehends God — the Objective of our re- 
ligious Tendency — The Infinite Being — The Ideal 
realised — Value of this Demonstration, which shows 
the Agreement between Philosophy and Religion - 19 

The Infinite is the Creator of the Finite — Object of 
Creation in the Satisfaction of our Tendencies, which 
are found again in God — Resemblance between Man 
and God - - - - - - 2t 



ANALYTICAL TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



479 



Chap. 

XI. 



The Fact of Creation involves the Mystery of Moral Free- 
dom — An impenetrable Mystery, which occurs also 
in the Physical World — The Manner of explaining its 
Harmony - 

All Mysteries are the Results of partial Knowledge — 
They are found in every Branch of Knowledge 

This mysterious Freedom supposes two Alternatives, 
which answer to our Tendencies, and are unlimited, 
indefinite — The one consists in drawing nearer to God, 
the other in withdrawing from him — Progress towards 
God is the Object of Creation, and supposes the Pos- 
sibility of Evil - 

The two Alternatives universal in Creation, because Free- 
dom is the same everywhere, as well as Truth, Holiness, 
Happiness, Love, and Religion - 

All Conditions of created Beings are Phases of Progress 

— Differences among Creatures necessary to their 
common Progress — These Differences nothing before 
God — Man is not, therefore, alone in the Universe 

Progress towards God having no possible Limit, Man is 
immortal, and preserves his Individuality — This Prin- 
ciple renders the Question of Materialism a Matter of 
Indifference - 

The Nature of Animals not being progressive, in conse- 
quence of their Faculties, is explained by the Fact of 
their being associated with a Class of Superior Beings — 
their Association accounts for the Suffering of Animals 

— They will be compensated, notwithstanding the "Want 
of Consciousness of Self - 

Activity, necessarily progressive among Men, is continuous 

— it consists in the Employment of the Powers or Ten- 
dencies, although it often makes some predominant 
over others — whether it follows the Alternative of Good 
or that of Evil - 



Page 



- 23 



- 27 



- 30 



34 



35 



- 38 



- 39 



46 



BOOK II. 



EXAMINATION OF THE PRINCIPAL PROBLEMS OF THE HUMAN MIND. 



The Notion of Progress explains: 1st. Time and Space, 
merely Notions of our Mind; 2ntlly. Nature, the 
Theatre of this Progress ; 3rdly. The Ideas of Cosmo- 
gany and Chaos - 

4thly. Eden — The Time of the Accomplishment of Pro- 
gress; 5thly. The Fall — Abandonment of Progress; 
and Gthly. Original Sin, which is nothing but the Fall 
extended to the Race - 

7thly. Physical Evil — Consequence of Moral Evil by a 
Re-action, whose Means are unknown — World without 
Physical Evil cannot be conceived - 

8thly. Condemnation, voluntary keeping apart from God 



- 78 



60 



480 



ANALYTICAL TABLE OF 



Chap. 



— which will be eternal if the Withdrawal is eternal 
Concatenation of Causes and Effects in which Divine 
Justice consists - 

9thly. Birth, Infancy, Life, Duration of the Task of 
earthly Progress — Death, a Departure from a State of 
Progress, with Suffering, if there has been a Fall — 
Resurrection, Entrance into a new State of Progress - 

And lOthly. The End of the World, the Termination of 
a complete Phase of Progress — which only takes place 
by the Victory of Mind over Matter, and not by the 
Exhaustion of the Human Race 

Progress — .an Increasing Resemblance to God, supposes 
Prayer, which is of two Kinds — Praise and Petition — 
To pray by expressing Wishes is to acquiesce or to bring 
our Will into a State of Accordance with the Will of God 

— Asking is merely the Form — Fruits of Prayer — 
Examples of Prayer confirmatory of these Views 

Progress is suspended by Sleep and ordinary Dreams — 
Although Sleep frees us momentarily from the Notion 
of Time — of Space — of our Bodies, and seems to free 
us from the Power of Death — Hence there sometimes 
results the complete Satisfaction of Sensitiveness — 
Still more, the State of Sleep is devoid of Responsibility 

The same Effects produced by Distractions and Reveries 

— but with Responsibility - 

The same Effect also produced by a State of Enthusiasm 
and Extacy — which is also accompanied by Respon- 
sibility — Affects different Tendencies very unequally — 
and when it affects the Intellectual Tendency, results in 
Poetry -.-___ 



Page 



84 



8( 



- 8. 



- 90 



97 



100 



101 



BOOK III. 



PROBLEM OF REDEMPTION. 



During the waking State the Tendencies are never per- 
fectly satisfied — Whence results the Certainty of the 
Fall of Man — confirmed by Universal Tradition 

From this Certainty arises the Desire of a Redemption, 
which leads Man back to God — A Resource on which 
Eternity necessarily depends — which Mankind could 
not confer on itself — a Resource completely gratuitous 
— a Resource, which from its very Nature is general — 
which neither destroys Personal Freedom, nor the Social 
Compact — and is objective in its Means 

Redemption supposes a Redeemer — His Characteristics 
necessary — and mysterious in the Sense of the only 
Mystery of Religion — Whence, it follows, that a Re- 
demption will only be proved by Facts 

These Facts will be a complete Human Existence — an- 
nounced and foretold — Which was the Mears of 



127 



129 



134 



CONTENTS. 



481 



Chap. 



XXXVII. 
XXXVJII. 



generalising Redemption — These Faets will only be be- 
lieved on Testimony - 

The Human Life of the Redeemer will be in Accordance 
with the Age in which he lived — Which leads us to 
make a Distinction in Redemption between the Essence 
and the Form - 

The Period of Redemption is fixed by the Increase of 
Evil — at the Moment when Return towards God is 
still possible ------ 

At this Moment Jesus Christ appeared — Before Christ 
a continuous Increase of Evil — After Christ a Return 
towards Good — The Social Condition of Rome deter- 
mined the Time - 

The Point of Separation is confirmed by the Division of 
Nations into Poly gamists and Monogamists — Opposite 
Characters of Polygamy and Monogamy — The former 
renders Nations stationary, the latter renders them 
active — Difference at once Providential and Human - 

Its Influence upon Redemption - 

Explained by Idolatry — Definition and Dangers of 
Idolatry — They spring from the Power of the religious 
Tendency — They are greatest amongst active Races - 

Redemption effected at the Historical Centre of these Races 
— Exception to this Dispensation, which confirms it - 

Another Exception : the People who were Contemporaries 
of the Redeemer, Polygamist — Divine Commission of 
that Race : the Preservation of Revelation 



137 



- 140 



142 



144 



147 
152 



152 



156 



157 



BOOK IV. 



THEORY OF REVELATION. 



XLV. 
XLVI. 



The Idea of a Redeemer dependent on that of the Creator 
— Revelation the History of the true Religion — over 
which Providence has watched 

In Revelation, as well as in Religion, of which the former 
is the His ory, the Activity of God and Men is simul- 
taneous — The Line of Distinction between the two 
Activities impossible to be drawn - 

' Inspiration, the Part of God in Revelation, is natural to 
him — Inspiration, possible in Man, an Intellectual 
Being — whose Intelligence has become Insufficient, 
like all his other Powers - 

The ways of Inspiration necessarily mysterious — Al- 
though conformable to our Nature — To such an 
Extent that the Phenomena of Sleep and of Extacy are 
employed as a Medium - 

Inspiration limits itself: 1st. By not doing Violence to 
Freedom — It only renders Truth certain - - 

2dly. By leaving the Understanding to its free Exercise — 
It only teaches religious Truth — and contains Errors 
of Fact in Science - - « 208 



- 197 



200 



- £02 



204 



- 206 



482 



ANALYTICAL TABLE OF 



Chap. 
XL vi i. 



216 



219 



3dly. By speaking the Language of Man — Definition of 
Language — Always inferior to Thought - - 211 

Inspiration so limited must be supported by objective 
Proofs — A Person inspired cannot offer a Guarantee of 
his own Inspiration — Nullity of moral Proofs — 
Necessity of extra-rational Proofs - 

First Proof : Prophecy : — Conformable to the Nature of 
God, who knows and sees — and to the Nature of Man, 
who knows and foresees — Indispensable to Redemption 

— it announces the Future in general, and not in detail 

— and is naturally delivered in a poetic Style 
Second Proof : Miracles — A Proof necessary to the Con- 
temporaries of Inspiration — Conclusive only to them 

— New Theory of Miracles, which establishes their 
Divine Character, and Argumentative Power in favour 
of Spiritual Truths — They do not suspend the Laws 
of Nature — Are distinguished into Two Kinds — 
Always accomplished by the Intermediation, or in 
Presence of a Divine Messenger — Form an intrinsic 
Part of Revelation — Are in Accordance with the Spirit 
of the Times — Do not interfere with Moral Freedom 

— Are necessarily imitated, but in vain, and falsely, 
by Extacy ------ 

The Human Life of the Redeemer is naturally miraculous 

— it presents the Redeemer under his Two Aspects — 
it realises the Ideal of Perfection - 



225 



235 



BOOK V. 

METHOD OF REVELATION. 



In the Life of the Christ, every thing is practical — 
Christianity has been wrongly regarded as a System of 
Doctrine — It is a Principle of Life — which is proved 
bv the Method followed by the Gospel in revealing 
Truth - - - - - 

Signs by which Truths decided by Facts are recognised 

— Examples : the Resurrection — Existence of Angels 

— Prayer — Unity of the Human Race — Secret Doc- 
trines ------- 

Signs of Truths regarded as certain — Examples 
Signs of Truths set forth as Axioms — Examples : 
Polygamy — Paternal Authority — Property — Slavery 

— Government — Law of Nations — Suicide — Danger 
of these Questions in human Religions — Mode in which 
the Gospel, and the Gospel alone, has solved them 

Two Signs of reserved Truths — Examples : Divine 
Nature of Christ — Union of Soul and Body — Relations 
between the Living and the Dead — Time of the End 
of the World — Organisation of the Human Being for 
the Kingdom of Heaven — Future Recognition — 
Nature of Angels — Right to study and examine these 
Questions ------- 



281 



284 
288 



289 



- 295 



CONTENTS. 483 

Chap. . Page 

lvii. Degrees of Revelation — Traditional Revelation — Written 
Revelation — Necessary Termination of Revelation, 
and Close of its Proofs - 300 

lviii. Power of Revelation demonstrated by Facts — Jewish 
Nationality founded upon the Old Testament — which 
has all the Characteristics of a preliminary Revelation 

— Christian Church founded at first upon Tradition — 
then upon Historical — and Theoretical Books, which 
correspond fully with their Purpose --■•._ 303 

MX. From the Connection of the Two Covenants, it follows 
that the preliminary Revelation has a special Colouring 

— It is an Episode — but an Episode without which 
Revelation would have been impossible, and whose spe- 
cial Character does not diminish its Glory - - 307 

m. As the Old Testament was for the Jews, the whole Body 
of Revelation is an Instrument given to Christians — 
Principles for understanding the Bible — the only Uni- 
versal Book — the only Inexhaustible Book — the only 
Irrefutable Book — Religious Period of Sacred Annals - 310 



BOOK VI. 

THE FUTURE OP CHRISTIANITY, IN TIME AND BEYOND TIME. 

Is Christianity definitive ? — The Gospel cannot give a 
direct Answer to the Question — It is determined by 
the Fact of Christianity being independent of every 
thing earthly — even of Civilisation — which it guides 
— Human Religions dependent in every thing - 339 

[. It is still further determined by the Fact of Christianity's 
exhausting the Five Tendencies of Man — and for 
both Sexes __._.- 347 
The Perpetuity of Christianity rests also upon Two Kinds 
of Utility — Direct Utility as regards Believers — In- 
direct Utility as regards Non-believers — The latter is 
especially obvious in Manners and Institutions - 349 

Indirect Utility is merely a Forerunner of Universality — 
ensured by the Spirit of Proselytism natural to Chris- 
tianity — this Proselytism has been aided by the Power 
of Civilisation, especially since the Reformation - 352 

Christianity, in order to its final Success, must disembar- 
rass itself of Six Obstacles, which retard its Progress - 356 

:. 1st. Discipline — Dangers of disciplinary Morals — Proofs 
of the Fact, that the Gospel contains a System of Mo- 
rality and none of Discipline - 357 

. 2dly. Clerical Hierarchy — Christianity had no Priests at 
its Origin — Cannot at present, nor for an indefinite 
Time, do without them — The Clergy does not consti- 
tute the Church — Proofs drawn from the Gospel — 
Importance to Believers of the Question of the Clergy - 362 



484 ANALYTICAL TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

Chap. _ Page 

lxviii. 3rdJy. Authority in Dogmas — Always exercised by a 
Body or an Individual — Always summed up in For- 
mulas, in which Believers are called upon to acquiesce 
— Which is a Proscription of Free Examination — 
Differences of Authority among Catholics and Protest- 
ants — Equally abuse each other - 368 
lxix. 4thly. Form — Danger of attaching too much Importance 
to Form — Error in Form does not destroy the Work of 
the religious Feeling — Importance of the Choice of a 
Mode of Worship — Proofs of the Fact, that the Gospel 
contains no Ritual - 376 
lxx. 5thly. The Letter of Revelation — The Style of which is 
necessarily Poetical and Hyperbolical — Different Im- 
portance of the Sacred Books - 382 
lxxi. 6thly. Dogmas — Which taken from the Gospel, suffice 
for the individual Redemption of the Believer. They 
constitute an intrinsic Part of the Gospel — But are 
a Means and not an End — Examples : Limit between 
Innocent and Culpable Error inappreciable by us — 
Worth of Sincerity ----- 384 

lxxii. Freedom of Examination guaranteed by the Invention of 

Printing ------ 392 

lxxiii. When this Progress is effected, it will be easier to disem- 
barrass Christianity of the Notions of Space and Time - 395 
lxxiv. Which veil it — By representing Heaven and Hell as 

Places — These are two States - 396 

lxxv. Coming of Christ, considered without us, as a Solemnity 
to contemplate — within us, as an Impression to receive 
its Effects ------ 398 

i.xxvi. Continuation of Christianity in another Life — Necessary 
to Christ and to us — Different for those who have known 
and those who have been ignorant of it — Innocently or 
Blameably — Examples, as Rewards and Punishments - 400 
lxxvii. Universal Restoration — Eternity of Punishments badly 
supported and badly refuted — Principles: all Suffering 
Instruction — Consciousness of Self in Suffering — Dif- 
ferent Degrees of Punishment — Eternity of Punish- 
ment only in case of eternal Progression in Evil— - 
Unavoidable Relations between the Just and the Con- 
demned, and their Consequences — Conclusion - 406 



THE END. 



London : 

Spottiswoode and Shaw, 

New. -street- Square. 



October, 1847. 



NEW WORKS 

In MISCELLANEOUS and GENERAL LITERATURE, 

PUBLISHED BY 

Messrs. LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN, and LONGMANS, 
PATERNOSTER-ROW, LONDON. 



CLASSIFIED INDEX. 



AGRICULTURE & RURAL AFFAIRS. 

Pages 

Bayldon on Valuing Rents, etc. 6 

Crocker's Land Surveying_ ... 9 

Davy's Agricultural Chemistry • 9 

Johnson's Farmer's Encyclopaedia - - 16 

Loudon's Encyclopaedia of Agriculture - 18 

,, Self-Instruction for Farmers, etc. 18 

„ (Mrs.) Lady'sCountry Companion 18 

Low's Breeds of the Domesticated Animals 19 

,, Elements of Agriculture - - 19 

„ On Landed Property - 18 

,, On the Domesticated Animals - 19 

Parnell on Roads ----- 23 

Thomson on Fattening Cattle, etc.- - 30 

Topham's Agricultural Chemistry - 30 

Whitley's Agricultural Geology - - 32 

ARTS, MANUFACTURES, AND 
ARCHITECTURE. 

Brande's Dictionary of Science, etc. - 6 

Buckler's St. Alban's Abbey - - - 7 

Budge's Miner's Guide .... 7 

Cartoons (The Prize) 7 

Cresy's Eucycl. of Civil Engineering - 9 

De Burtin on the Knowledge of Pictures 9 

Dresden Gallery ----- 10 

Eastlake on Oil Painting - 10 

Evans's Sugar Planter's Manual - - 11 

Gwilt's Encyclopaedia of Architecture • 13 

Haydon's Lectures on Painting & Design 13 

Holland's Manufactures in Metal • - 14 

Loudon's Rural Architecture - - - 18 

Moseley's Engineering and Architecture 22 

Parnell on Roads ----- 23 

Porter's Manufacture of Silk - - 24 

„ ,, Porcelain & Glass 24 

Reid (Dr.) on Warming and Ventilating 25 

Sibley and Rutherford's Earthwork Tables 27 

Steam Engine (The) , by the Artisan Club 5 

Urc's Dictionary of Arts, etc. - - 31 

Wilkinson's Engines of War - - - 32 

Wood on Railroads - - - - - 32 

BIOGRAPHY. 

Aikin's Life of Addison .... 5 

Andersen's (H. C.) Autobiography - 5 

Bell's Lives of the British Poets 6 

Dover's Life of the King of Prussia - - 10 

Dunham's Early Writers of Britain - 10 

,, Lives of the British Dramatists 10 

Forster's Statesmen of the Commonwealth 1] 

,, LifeofJebb - - - - 11 

Gleig's British Military Commanders • 12 

Grant (Mrs.) Memoir and Correspondence 12 



Autobiography and Journals 
Life of the Black Prince 



Hayd< 
James 

,, Eminent Foreign Statesmen - 15 

Lai's (M.) Life of Dost Mohammed - - 21 

Leslie's Life of Constable - - - 17 

Mackintosh's Life of Sir T. More - - 19 

Maunder's Biographical Treasury - - 21 

Roscoe's Lives of Eminent British Lawyers 26 

Russell's Bedford Correspondence - 6 



Pages 

Schopenhauer's Youthful Life - - 26 

Shelley's Literary Men of Italy, etc. - 27 

,, Eminent French Writers - 27 

Southey's Lives of the British Admirals - 28 

Life of Wesley - 28 

Townsend's Twelve eminent Judges - 30 

Waterton's Autobiography and Essays - 31 

BOOKS OF GENERAL UTILITY. 

Acton's (Eliza) Cookery Book - - 5 

Black's Treatise on Brewing 6 

Collegian's Guide . - ... 8 
Donovan's Domestic Economy • - 10 

Hand-Book of Taste .... 13 

Hints on Etiquette 13 

Hudson's Parent's Hand-Book - - 15 

,, Executor's Guide - • • 15 

„ On Making Wills - 15 

Hume's Aci-ount of Learned Societies etc. 15 

Loudon's Self Instruction - - - 18 

„ (Mrs.) Amateur Gardener - IS 

Maunder's Treasury of Knowledge - - 20 

,*, Scientific and LiteraryTreasury 20 

,", Treasury of History - - 21 

,, Biographical Treasury - -21 

„ Natural History - 21 

Parkes's Domestic Duties - - - 23 

Pycroft's Course of English Reading • 24 

Reader's Time Tables - 25 

Rich's Companion to the Latin Dictionary 25 

Riddle's Eng.-Lat. and Lat.-Eng. Diet. - 25 

Robinson's Art of Curing, Pickling, etc. 25 

Rowton's Debater ----- 26 

Short Whist ...... 27 

Thomson's Management of Sick Room - 30 
„ Interest Tables - -30 

Tomlins' Law Dictionary . 30 

Walker's Dictionary, by Smart - - 31 
Webster's Encycl. of Domestic Kconomy 31 
Zumpt's Latin Grammar - - - - 32 

BOTANY AND CARDENINC. 

Abercrombie's Practical Gardener - - 5 
,, and Main's Gardener - 5 

Callcott's Scripture Herbal ... 7 
Conversations on Botany ... 8 

Drummond's First Steps to Botany - 
Evans's Sugar Planter's Manual 
Henslow's Botany - - . . - 
Hoare On the Grape Vine on Open Walls 
„ On the Roots of Vines - - - 
Hooker's British Flora - 

,, Guide to Kew Gardens 
Lindley's Theory of Horticulture - 

,, Orchard and Kitchen Garden • 



10 
11 
13 
14 
14 
14 
14 
17 
17 
17 
37 
17 
18 

Hortus Lignosus Londinensis - 18 

Encyclopaedia of Trees & Shrubs 18 
11 Gardening 

Encyclopaedia of Plants 

Suburban Gardener - 



,, Introduction to Botany 
, , Flora Mediea - - . 
,, Synopsis of British Flora - 
Loudon's Hortus Britannicus - 



18 



. 18 



London: Printed by M- Mason, Ivy Lane, Paternoster Row. 






CLASSIFIED IKDEX 



Pages 

Loudon's Self-Instruction for Gardeners 18 

,, (Mr.) Amateur Gardener 
Repton's Landscape Gardening, etc 
Rivers's Rose Amateur's Guide 
Roberts ou the Vine - 
Rogers's Vegetable Cultivator - 
Schleideu's Scientific Botany - 
Smith's Introduction to Botany 

„ English Flora 

,, Compendium of English Flora 

CHRONOLOGY. 

Blair's Chronological Tables - - - 6 
Nicolas's Chronology of History • -23 
Riddle's Ecclesiastical Chronology . -25 

Tate's Horatius Restitutus - - - 29 

COMMERCE AND MERCANTILE 
AFFAIRS. 

Gilbart On Banking - 12 

M'Culloch's Dictionary of Commerce - 19 

Reader's Time Tables - - - - 25 

Steel's Shipmaster's Assistant - - - 28 

Symonds' Merchant Seamen's Laws - 29 

Thomson's Tables of Interest - 30 

Walford's Customs' Laws - - 31 

GEOGRAPHY AND ATLASES. 

Butler's Ancient and Modern Geography 7 

„ Atlas of Modern Geography - 7 

,, ,, Ancient Geography - 7 

„ ,, General Geography - 7 

Cooler's World Surveyed ... 8 

De Strzelecki's New South Wales • - 9 

Forster's Historical Geography of Arabia 11 

Hall's Large General Atlas - - - 13 

M'Culloch's Geographical Dictionary - 19 

Murray's Encyclopaedia of Geography - 22 

Parrot's Ascent of Mount Ararat 8 

HISTORY AND CRITICISM. 

Adair's (SirR.) Mission to Vienna - 5 
,, Constantinople 5 
Bell's History of Russia 6 
Blair's Chron. and Historical Tables - 6 
Bloomfield's Translation of Thucydides - 6 
,, Edition of Thucydides 6 
Cooley's Maritime and Inland Discovery 8 
Crowe's History of France ... 9 
De Sismondi's Fall of the Roman Empire 10 
,, Italian Republics - - 10 
Dunham's History of Spain and Portugal 10 
,, Europe in the Middle Ages - 10 
,, History of the German Empire 10 
„ Denmark, Sweden, and Norway 10 
,, History of Poland - - - 10 
Dunlop's History of Fiction - - 10 
Eastiake's History of Oil Painting - 10 
Eccleston's English Antiquities - - 10 
Fergus's United States of America - 11 
Grant (Mrs.) Memoir andCorespoudence 12 
Grattau's History of Netherlands - • 12 
Grimblot's William III. and Louis XIV. 12 
Guicciardini's Historical Maxims - - 12 
Halsted's Life of Richard III. - - IS 
Havdon's Lectures ou Painting and Design 13 
Historical Charades ----- 13 
Historical Pictures of the Middle Ages - 13 
Horsley's (Bp.) Biblical Criticism - - 14 
Jeffrey's (Lord) Contributions - - 16 
Keightley's Outlines of History - - 16 
Laiug's Kings of Norway - - - 16 
Lempriere's Classical Dictionary - - 17 
Maeaulay's Essays - - 19 
Mackintosh's History of England - - 19 
,, Miscellaneous Works - 19 
M'Culloch's Dictionary, Historical, Geo- 
graphical, and Statistical - - 19 
Maunder's Treasury of History - - 21 
Milner's Church History - - - 21 



Pages 

Moore's History of Ireland - - - 22 

Mosheim's Ecclesiastical History - - 22 

Nicolas's Chronology of History - - 23 

Rauke's History of the Reformation - 24 

Rich's Companion to the Latin Dictionary 25 

Riddle's Latin Dictionaries - - - 25 

Rome, History of - - - - - 26 

Russell's Bedford Correspondence - 6 

Scott's History of Scotland - - 26 

Sinnett's Byways of History - - - 27 

Stebbing's History of the Christian Church 28 

,, History of the Reformation - 28 

,, Church History - - - 21 

Switzerland, History of - - - - 28 

Svdnev Smith's Works - 28 

Thirl wall's History of Greece - - 29 

Tooke's History of Prices - 30 

Turner's History of England - - - 30 

Tytler's Elements of General History - 31 

Zumpt's Latin Grammar - 32 

JUVENILE BOOKS. 

Amy Herbert ------ 5 

Boy's (The) Own Book - - - - 6 

Gertrude - 12 

Gower's Scientific Phenomena - - 12 

Hawes's Tales of the American Indians - 13 

Historical Charades ----- 13 

Howitt's Bov's Country Book - - - 14 

„ Child's Year Book - 14 

Laneton Parsonage - - - - - 16 

Mackintosh's Life of Sir T. More - - 19 
Marcet's Conversations — 

On Chemistry 20 

On Natural Philosophy • - 20 

On Political Economy - - 20 

On Vegetable Physiology - 20 

On Land and Water - - - - 20 

Marryat's Masterman Ready - - 20 

,, Privateer's-Man - - - 20 

„ Settlersin Canada - - - 20 

„ Mission; or, Scenes in Africa 20 

Pycroft's Course of English Reading - 24 

Twelve Years Ago ----- 31 

MEDICINE. 

Bull's Hints to Mothers - - - 7 

,, Management of Children * • 7 

Copland's Dictionary of Medicine - - 8 

Elliotson's Human Physiology - - 11 

Esdaile's Mesmerism in India - - - 11 

Holland's Medical Notes - 14 

Lane's Water Cure at Malvern - - 16 

Pereira On Food and Diet - - - 23 
Reece's Medical Guide - - - -25 

Thomson on Food ----- 30 

MISCELLANEOUS. 

Adshead on Prisons ----- 5 

Cartoons (The Prize) ... - 7 

Clavers's Forest Life 8 

Cocks's Bordeaux, its Wines, etc. - 8 

Collegian's Guide ----- 8 

Colton's Lacon ------ 8 

De Burtin On the Knowledge of Pictures 9 

De Morgan On Probabilities - - - 9 

De Strzelecki's New South Wales - - 9 

Dresden Gallery - 10 

Dunlop's History of Fiction - - - 10 

Good's Book of Nature - - - - 12 

Gower's Scientific Phenomena - - 12 

Graham's English 12 

Grant's Letters from the Mountains - 12 

Hand-Book of Taste - 13 

Hobbes's (Thos.) complete Works - 14 

Hooker's Kcw Guide - 14 

Howitt's Rural Life of England - - 14 

,, Visits to Remarkable Places - 14 

„ Student Life of Germany - 15 

,, Rural and Social Life of Germany 15 






TO MESSRS. LONGMAN AND CO/S CATALOGUE. 



Pages 
Howitt's Colonisation and Christianity -~15 
Hume's Account of Learned Societies - 15 
Jaeniseh. on Chess Openings - - - 15 
Jeffrey's' (Lord) Contributions - - 16 

King's (Col.) Argentine Republic - 16 

Lane's Life at the Water Cure - - 16 

Loudon's (Mrs.) Lady's Country Companion 18 
Macaulay's Critical and Historical Essays 19 
Mackintosh's 'Sir J.) Miscellaneous Works 19 



Maitland's Church iii Catacombs 

Michelet's Priests, Women, and Families 21 

,, The People - 21 

Necker DeSaussure's on Education - 23 

Peter Plymley's Letters - 24 

Plunkett.on the Navy • 24 

Pycroft's English Course ofReading - 24 

Rich's Companion to the Latin Dictionary 25 

Riddle's Latin Dictionaries - - 25 

Roget's Economic Chess-board - - 26 

Rowton's Debater - ... 26 

Saadford's Parochialia ... - 26 

Seaward's Narrative of his Shipwreck - 26 

Southey's Common-Place Book - - 28 

Doctor, etc. Vols. VI. and VII. 28 

Sydney Smith's Works .... 28 

Thomson on Food of Animals, etc. - - 30 

Walker's Chess Studies - 31 

Willoughby's (Lady) Diary - 3S 

Zumpt's Latin Grammar - - • - 3S 



NATURAL HISTORY IN CENERAL. 

Catlow's Popular Conchologv - - - 7 

Doubleday's Butterflies and Moths - 10 

Drummorid's Letters to a Naturalist - 10 

Gray and Mitchell's Ornithology - - 12 

„ „ Accipitres - - 12 

Kirby and Spence's Entomology - - 16 

Lee's Taxidermy 17 

,, 'Elements of Natural History - - l7 

Maunder's Treasury of Natural History 21 

Newell's Zoology of the English Poets - 23 

Stephens' British Beetles - 28 

Swainson on the Study of Natural History 29 

,, Animals - - - - 29 

„ Quadrupeds - 29 

,, Birds - - - - 29 

,, Animals in Menageries - 29 

,, Fish, Amphibia, and Reptiles 29 

,, Insects - 29 

,, Malacology - • - - 29 

,, Habits and Instincts - - 29 

,, Taxidermy ... 29 

Turton's Shells of the British Islands - 31 

Waterton's Essays on Natural History - 31 

Westwood's Classification of Insects - 32 

Zoology of H.M. S.s' Erebus and Terror 32 

NOVELS AND WORKS OF FICTION. 

Bray's (Mrs.) Novels 6 

Dunlop's History of Fiction - - 10 

Fawn ofSerturius - - - - - 11 

Lady Willoughby's Diary - - - 32 

Marryat's Masterman Ready - - - 20 

„ Privateer's-Man - - - 20 

„ Settlers in Canada - - - 20 

„ Mission; or, Scenes in Africa - 20 

Pericles, A Tale of Athens ... 23 

Southey's Doctor, etc. Vols. VI. and VII. 28 

Twelve Years Ago • .... 31 

ONE VOLUME ENCYCLOP/EDIAS 
AND DICTIONARIES. 

Blaine's, of Rural Sports - 6 

Brande's, of Science, Literature, and Art 6 

Copland's, of Medicine ... - 8 

Cresy's, of Civil Engineering 9 

Gwilt's, of Architecture - 13 

Johnson's Farmer - - 16 



Loudon's, of Trees and Shrubs - - 18 

,, ofGardening - - - - 18 

,, of Agriculture - - - - 18 

„ of Plants 18 

,, of Rural Architecture - - 18 

M'Culloch's Geographical Dictionary • 19 

,, Dictionary of Commerce - 19 

Murray's Encyclopaidia of Geography - 22 

Ure's Arts, Manufactures, and Mines - 31 

Webster's Domestic Economy - - 31 

POETRY AND THE DRAMA. 

Aikin's (Dr.) British Poets - 26 

Burger's Leonora, by Cameron 7 

Chalenor's Walter Gray 8 

Collier's Roxburghe Ballads ... 8 
Costello's Persian Rose Garden 8 

Goldsmith's Poems, illustrated - - 12 

Gray's Elegy, illuminated - - - 12 
Gutch's Robin Hode - 13 

Horace, by Tate - 29 

Howitt's (Mary) Ballads ... 14 

L.E.L.'s Poetical Works - - - 17 

Linwood's Anthologia Oxoniensis • - 17 
Macaulay's Lays of Ancient Rome • - 19 
Mackay's English Lakes - - . • 19 
Montgomery's Poetical Works - - 22 

Moore's Poetical Works - • - > 22 
„ LallaRookh .... 22 
,, Irish Melodies - - - - 22 
Moral of Flowers - 22 

Poets' Pleasaunce - .... 24 
Pope's Works ---... 24 
Reynard the Fox . - • • - - 25 
Shakspeare, by Bowdler - - - 26 

Sheldon's Minstrelsy - - - - 26 
Sophocles, by Linwood - 28 

Southey's Poetical Works - - -28 

„ British Poets • - - - 26 
Spirit of the Woods - - - - 28 

Thomson's Seasons, illustrated • - 29 
,, with Notes, by Dr. A. T. Thomson 29 

POLITICAL ECONOMY AND 
STATISTICS. 

Gilbart on Banking ----- 12 

Lang's Cooksland ... - - 16 

„ Phillipsland - 16 
M'Culloch's Geographical, Statistical, and 

Historical Dictionary • - 19 

M'Culloch's Dictionary of Commerce • 19 

„ Literature of Polit. Economy 20 

,, On Taxation and Funding - 20 

„ Statistics of the British Empire 19 

Marcet's Conversations on Polit. Economy 20 

Registrar-General's Reports ,. - - - 25 

Symonds' Merchant Seamen's. Law - 29 

Tooke's History of Prices - - - 30 

Twiss's (Dr.) View of Political Economy 31 

RELICIOUS AND MORAL 
WORKS, ETC. 

Amy Herbert, edited by Rev. W. Sewell 5 

Barrett's Old Testament Criticisms - - 5 

Bloomfield's Greek Testament - - 6 

,, College and School ditto - 6 

,, Lexicon to Greek Testament 6 

Bunsen's Church of the Future - - 7 

Burder's Oriental Customs 7 

Burns's Christian Philosophy - - - 7 

,, Christian Fragments - - - 7 

Callcott's Scripture Herbal - - - 7 

Cooper's Sermons - - - 8 

Coquerel's Christianity ... 8 

Dale's Domestic Liturgy - 9 

Dibdin's Sunday Library - - - - 10 

Doddridge's Family Expositor - - 10 

Englishman's Hebrew Concordance - 11 

„ Greek Concordance - 11 



CLASSIFIED INDEX. 



Pages 

Fitzroy's (Lady) Scripture Conversations 11 

Forster's Historical Geography of Arabia 11 

„ Life of Bishop Jebb - - - 11 

From Oxford to Rome - - - 11 

Gascoyne on the Apocalypse • - 11 

Gertrude, edited by the Rev. VV. Sewell - 12 

Hook's (Dr.) Lectures on Passion Week 14 

Home's Introduction to the Scriptures - 14 

„ Compendium of ditto - - 14 

Horsley's (Bp.) Biblical Criticism - - 14 

,, Psalms ----- 14 

Jebb's Correspondence with Knox - - 15 

„ Translation of the Psalms - - 15 

Kip's Christmas in Rome - - 16 

Knox's (Alexander) Remains - - • 16 

Laing's Notes on the German Schism - 16 

Laneton Parsonage ----- 16 

Letters to my Unknown Friends - - 17 

Maitland's Church in the Catacombs - 20 

Margaret Percival - 20 

Michelet's Priests, Women, and Families 21 

„ and Quinet's Jesuits - - 21 

Milner's Church History - 21 

Miracles of Our Saviour - - - 21 

Moore on the Power of the Soul - - 22 

„ on the Use of the Body - - 22 

Mosheim's Ecclesiastical History - - 22 

My Youthful Companions - - - 22 

Parables of Our Lord - 23 

Parkes's Domestic Duties - 23 

Pearson's Prayers for Families - - 23 

Peter Plymley's Letters - - - - 24 

Pitman's Sermons on the Psalms - - 24 

Quinet's Christianity - - 24 

Rauke's Reformation - - - - 24 

Riddle's Letters from a Godfather • - 25 

Sandford On Female Improvement - - 26 

,, On Woman - - - - 26 

,, 's Parochialia - - • - 26 

Sermon on the Mount (The) - - - 26 

Shepherd's Hors AposiolicaB - - 27 

Shunammite (The Good) - 27 

Sinclair's Journey of Life - - - 27 

Smith's Female Disciple - 27 

„ (G.) PerilousTimes - - - 27 

„ Religion of Ancient Britain 27 

„ Sacred Annals - - - 27 

Southey's Life of Wesley - - - 28 

Stebbing's Christian Church - 28 

,, Reformation - - . . 28 

,, Church History - - - 21 

Steepleton ...... 28 

Sydney Smith's Sermons - - - 28 

Tate's History of St. Paul - . 29 

Tayler's(Rev.C.B.)Margaret; or, the Pearl 29 

>, ii Sermons - - 29 

„ „ DoraMelder - - 29 

,, ii Lady Mary • -29 

Taylor's (Jeremy) Works - - - 29 

Tomline's Introduction to the Bible - 30 

Trevor; or the New St. Francis - - 30 

Trollope's Analecta Theologica - - 30 

Turner's Sacred History - . - 30 

Twelve Years Ag_o ----- 31 

Wardlaw On Socinian Controversy - 31 

Weil's Bible, Koran, and Talmud - - 32 

Wilberforce's View of Christianity - 32 

Wilkinson's Catechisms of Church History 32 

Willoughby's (Lady) Diary - - - 32 

Wilson's Lands of the Bible - - - 32 



RURAL SPORTS. 



Blaine's Dictionary of Sports - 

Ephemera on Angling 

Hansard's Fishing in Wales 

Hawbuck Grange - 

Hawker's Instructions to Sportsmen 

Loudon's (Mrs.) Lady's Country Companion 

Stable Talk and Table Talk 



• 6 

• 11 

- 13 

- 13 



THE SCIENCES IN GENERAL, 
AND MATHEMATICS. 



Pages 

- 6 

- 6 



Bakewell's Introduction to Geology 
Brande's Dictionary of Science, etc 
Brewster's Optics - - - - 
Conversations on Mineralogy - - 8 

De la Beche on theGeology of Cornwall, etc. 9 
Donovan's Chemistry - 10 

Farey on the Steam Engine - - - 11 
Fosbroke on the Arts of the Ancient* - 11 
Gower's Scientific Phenomena - - 12 
Greener on the Gun - - - - 12 

Herschel's Natural Philosophy - - 13 
„ Astronomy - - - - H 
Holland's Manufactures in Metal 
Humboldt's Cosmos 



Hunt's Researches on Light - 

:ha 



Kater and Lardner's Mechanics 
La Place's System of the World 
Lardner's Cabinet Cyclopaedia 

„ Hydrostatics and Pneumatics 
,, end Walker's Electricity 
„ Arithmetic - - - 
1, Geometry - 

„ Treatise on Heat 
Marcet's Conversations on the Sciences 
Memoirs of the Geological Survey - 
Moseley's Practical Mechanics 

,, Engineering and Architecture 
Owen's Lectures On Comparative Anatomy 23 
Pearson's Practical Astronomy - - 23 
Peschel's Physics ----- 23 
Phillips's PafseozoicFossilsof Cornwall, etc. 24 
„ Guide to Geology - - - 24 
,, Treatise on Geology - - - 24 
Poisson's Mechanics - - - - 24 
Portlock's Geology of Londonderry - 24 
Powell's Natural Philosophy - - - 24 
Quarterly Journal of theGeologital Society 24 
Ritchie (Robert) on Railways - - 25 

Sibley and Rutherford's Earthwork Tables 27 
Topham's Agricultural Chemistry - - 30 
Whitley's Agricultural Geology - - 32 

TRAVELS. 

Allan's Mediterranean 
Cooley's World Surveyed 
Costello's (Miss) North Wales 
Coulter's California, etc. 

,, Pacific - - - 
De Custine's Russia 
De Strzelecki's New South Wales 



Dunlop's Central America 
Erman's Travels through Siberia - 
Francis's Italy and Sicily 
Harris's Highlands of Ethiopia 
King's (Col.) Argentine Republic - 

in Rome 

1 Sweden 
Lang's Cooksland - 

,, Phillipsland ... 

Mackay's English Lakes 
Marryat's BorneoJ - - - - 
Montauban's Wanderings 
Parrot's Ascent of Mount Ararat - 
Paton's (A. A.) Servia • 

,, Modern Syrians 

Schopenhauer's Pictures of Travel - 
Seaward's Narrative of his Shipwreck 
TischendorfTs Travels in the East - 
Von Orlich's Travels in India 
Wilson's Travels in the Holy Land 

VETERINARY MEDICINE 

Miles On the Horse's Foot 
Stable Talk and Table Talk - 
Thomson on Fattening Cattle 
Winter On the Horse - 






NEW WORKS AND NEW EDITIONS 

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ABERCROMBIE.— ABERCROMBIE'S PRACTICAL GARDENER, AND 

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22 NEW WORKS AND NEW EDITIONS 

MONTAUBAN (MRS. E.)-A YEAR AND A DAY IN THE EAST; 

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MONTGOMERY'S (JAMES) POETICAL WORKS. u . , 

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